Reverse

by Steven Tandberg

  “Alive, concerned and confused.”

  “Aren’t we all?” asked Aedan.

  “Aren’t we all,” I repeated slowly.

  We drove in silence back to the compound. The melancholy mood that had overtaken me after Jamie's episode in Castle Rock had seemed to spread to my comrades.

  Once we’d arrived home and separated to respective rooms without a word, I focused on connecting again, just to see if there was something or someone out there. At first, I felt nothing despite the mental search. All I found was void in my mind, but just as I started to relax, a faint signal, almost like a beacon came into and out of my mind. I focused harder, but the intensity remained fast. The sensation continued for another minute or two and then dissipated, leaving my mind anxious for more. It craved that connection as if a drug-laden infusion bathed my brain, seeping into the sulci, enveloping the neurons, and saturating the connections. I had to have it.

  20 The Chimera

  That night I had a dream. I stood at the mouth of a river with my feet in the shallow cold water. The slight current tickled my toes and made me smile at the sensation. A smile of slight discomfort mixed with exhilaration. The sun shone brightly through a thick forest to my side as the sunset was building. I took a few steps up the river and the water began to warm. A few more steps and the water warmed to hot bath water. I stood still, enjoying the warmth on my feet until a raucous sound broke my reverie. Rumbling began in the distance and grew to a loud roar. Something approached, and approached fast. I turned to run, but my legs wouldn't move fast enough. That's when I noticed my scrawny arms and legs, weak like Coyle was before. My strength was gone, now replaced with anxiety and trepidation.

  The rumbling grew, and I knew it was too late. I turned and faced a wall of dark red blood careening down the river. The wave knocked me flat on my back, before flipping me over and over unrelentingly. Eventually, I slammed onto the riverbed, pinned down by the flow. The force caused me to inhale a large gulp of bloody water. My lungs seared with pain as if they had filled with acid. As the pure agony of drowning grew, Dr. Baldwin's face appeared before me, the doctor I’d accidently killed at Somatotech when trying to catch my dad. Her mouth gaped open, and her blood-shot eyes bulged toward me. Wisps of blood escaped her head from where her skull had caved and added to the crimson flow swirling about me. I wanted to scream, but my lungs held no air. Her face drifted closer and closer. I desperately wanted to close my eyes, but they wouldn’t respond. Just as her lifeless lips made contact with mine, her face morphed into Jamie’s. Pain ripped through my chest, and I woke.

  The sweat on my skin drenched the tightly wrapped sheet engulfing my body. I rolled off the bed to release myself. The cool floor felt oddly comforting, so I lowered my entire body onto it. The darkness of my dream lingered with me. The demons of my past seemed unconvinced with my success of the present. I didn’t kill Manuel. I didn’t kill Tigre. Sure, I knocked Manuel out, and I injured the Somatotech goons. But, that violence was justified.

  Jamie stirred in the room next to me. Water rushed through pipes leading to her shower. After taking over this place, Jamie and Aedan had moved into the main house. Jamie and I were tempted to share a room, but a stern look from the Doña squashed that idea. Not that Jamie would have been comfortable about it anyway, especially after the accident. Aedan chose the room closest to the back of the hacienda. He held onto his privacy, even in this communal living. Talon found a room near the examination room and seemed to be getting along with Dr. Bartnev. He still held a small degree of antipathy toward me, threatened by my perceived perfection, but he’d come around. If only he could see my dreams. If only he could feel the demons inside. No, I was far from perfect, my mind and soul felt splintered as if parts were sticking out, exposed to the pain of my reality. My reality of the pain I’d caused Jamie. My reality as a clone.

  I got up and stripped, noticing that all the wounds from the past two days had healed. I jumped in the shower, turning it all the way to cold. I didn’t want to rob Jamie of the hot water because she probably needed it more than I. The cold water felt like a million pins shooting into my skin for the first minute. All I could manage were short staccato breaths under that near frozen oppression. I closed my eyes and forced my mind to control my breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Soon I took sustained deep breaths, and my skin went numb. The initial rush subsided, but the feeling of being alive persisted. I’m alive. My other is dead. My original may be dead. The three of us, physically the same, but I’m the one who’s alive. Did I deserve this life, whatever is left of it? Rather than deal with the heaviness further, I turned off the shower and got dressed.

  Jamie avoided me during breakfast, choosing to eat it in her room. Aedan joined me at the kitchen island.

  “Sleep well?” I asked him.

  “Nah, tossed and turned all night.” He dumped a couple scoops of sugar in his mug of coffee.

  “Your mom?”

  “Yeah.” He kept his eyes on his mug and held it tightly in both hands.

  “Stefan is making calls this morning. Their network found Roxanne, that queen recluse, and her group, so I’ve no doubt we’ll find her.”

  “My mom has a way of disappearing so that no one can find her.”

  “We will.”

  “Yeah.” He looked up and shook his head slightly and then returned to his mug. “How’s Jamie?”

  “Not sure, she ate in her room,” I said, shaking my head back and forth.

  “She’s been through a lot, Coyle; she may need some time.”

  “I know, but I’m afraid she’ll need so much time that we’ll just be through.”

  He didn’t have a response. He knew it as well as I did; I was losing her. “So what’s the plan, leader man?” Aedan said, after taking a swig of his coffee.

  “Make sure your mom, and Jamie’s family are OK and get my dad back.”

  “We could use some help with all that. Is Talon ready for some action?”

  “Frankly, I’d forgotten about him. I’ll check with Dr. Bartnev.” I slammed down a few bites of eggs and took a swig of the orange juice the Doña had placed in front of me.

  “Is Jamie gonna talk to her dad soon? When she does, can I call my family again?”

  “Yeah, I think the Doña is going to take her this morning.”

  “We’re ready to go actually,” Stefan walked into the room. “Aedan, we haven’t found your mom but we have some leads. We can discuss on the way.”

  Stefan, the Doña, Aedan and Jamie left without another word. Jamie avoided my eyes as she walked down the hallway to the front door. I didn’t go after her, even though I wanted to because I knew she needed some distance.

  After they’d left, I sought out Dr. Bartnev in Talon’s examination room. Talon sat up as I strolled into the room. Dr. Bartnev walked over to me but stayed silent.

  “I thought you’d forgotten about me,” he said and extended his fist.

  I pounded him back and said, “Nah, just ran into some trouble.”

  “Anything I can help with?”

  “Yeah, maybe. I should’ve asked you this earlier, but I didn’t have the chance. Those 5G Max towers seemed to be transmitting to an implant in my girlfriend, and I think my dad. What were you and Roxanne doing at the towers?”

  “Medital has been monitoring their signal strength around the Metro area. Somatotech has been able to get into more towers than us, including government-only towers.”

  “So Medital uses those towers as well?”

  “That’s how they send messages to our auditory implants.” He tapped just behind his ear.

  “So, they don’t work out here? We’re out of range for Jamie’s.”

  “Ours work because they switch to roaming, using other towers, similar to a cellphone voice transmission. Because Somatotech actually controls their subjects, they need a stronger signal, hence why the proximity to the towers. Medital doesn’t control us; it just wants all the information we can give them about Somatotech.�
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  “How can you trust that company?” Talon looked down at the floor, gathering his thoughts. I did the same. Allowing anyone to hear everything I hear and say seemed out of the question. What little privacy I had left I would like to hold onto. Then it hit me. Everything I say to Talon and the crew Medital recorded. They’re after the same endpoint as Somatotech, money. My experience with Somatotech had taught me one thing; money blinds and perverts. If Medital was anything like them, I wanted nothing to do with them. I needed to learn sign language as well so I could communicate with the crew without their snooping ears.

  “Coyle?” Talon shook me out of my contemplation. “Medital gave me life where Somatotech threatened to take it. If it wasn’t for Roxanne…” He stared forward and then shook his head slightly.

  “What about Roxanne? What’d she do?” I asked, pulling up a chair.

  “She’s telling me if I tell you she will kill me.” We both grinned.

  “I’ll find out someday, Roxanne,” I said as if I was talking on the phone. It sure felt odd talking through one person to another.

  “She says she’s thinking about killing you too.” He laughed.

  “Well, even if she is planning to kill me, I’m looking forward to having them here.”

  “She says it will be a couple more days. Medital has some important business they need her to attend to.”

  “Oooh, Roxanne’s a VIP!” I said in a high-pitched whine.

  “She says she’s really going to kill you.”

  “Well, get here quick, before I have my men around me. They’re a little skittish, and I doubt they’ll appreciate me bringing you all here.” Talon nodded. “Well, I gotta go. Thanks, dude.”

  I fist bumped Talon again; happy we had somehow made amends, though his grin seemed a little menacing. Dr. Bartnev followed me out of the room, and we walked together into the kitchen.

  “How long till he’s up and running?”

  “A day or two. He’s no miracle, but close.”

  “I’ll need his help soon, as in tomorrow. Can’t you ramp him up like you did me?”

  “No. His body heal, yes. Not fast like yours.”

  “So he can’t take your little cocktail?”

  “No, your blood is greater. Much more. Liver stronger as well.” He smacked my back with a hearty fist.

  I coughed from the blow, and then asked, “What does having more blood have to do with it?”

  “More binding to cells, less toxic elsewhere.”

  “And Talon doesn’t have it like I do?”

  “Not close, not even,” he said and winked.

  My body heals faster than other clones, so maybe it’s true? Maybe I am something different, an elite among the elite.

  Part Two

  Barrage

  21 Daddy Plan

  My first order of business had to be freeing my dad, or rather Coyle’s dad, from the chemical and physical clutches of Somatotech. I had some ideas on how to free him given the limited range of the towers, but I needed to bounce them off some critical people. I sat in the kitchen drumming up a plan.

  I heard the car pull up to the compound, so I moved to the hall to greet Aedan and Stefan as in they strolled. I looked behind them for Jamie but apparently she’d stayed outside with the Doña. I had hoped talking to her dad would smooth things over a bit, but I guess they hadn’t. Rather than push the issue by waiting in that hall for her, I walked to the kitchen. Aedan and Stefan met me there.

  Stefan grinned at me as we made eye contact, but he continued to the refrigerator.

  “Coyle! My mom’s OK. Stefan got a call right as we were pulling up. She’s at her sister’s in Boulder,” Aedan basically yelled out.

  “Heck yeah man! Good to freakin’ hear!” We exchanged high fives just as Jamie walked by. My hands dropped to my side. She didn’t even glance into the room. Her cheeks were wet, and she sniffled on her way to her room. I stepped forward to follow, but Aedan stopped me with his arm.

  I dropped my head and closed my eyes. “Is she OK?”

  “Nah, man. She’s not.” Aedan placed his hand on my shoulder. “She cried the entire way back here. Something her dad told her. I couldn’t get it out, but I didn’t feel like prying too much.”

  “I understand dude. But, I bet he told her she needed to stay here until we know it’s safe.”

  “That’s what I don’t get, man. Why hasn’t Somatotech retaliated? Why not hold our families against us?”

  “They will, I guarantee it. They may have another plan to flush us out right now, but when push comes to shove, they’ll try anything, including hurting out families.”

  “Then we gotta bring them here or protect them.”

  I motioned over to Stefan, who was still browsing the food selections in the fridge. “Right, I had Stefan call some men to watch over each of our homes. They’ll call about any suspicious activity. Aedan, I wanna bring my dad here.”

  “That’s cool, man. But promise me my family won’t be far behind?”

  “Of course. It just feels like if they wanted to get to me they would stick me where it hurts most. That’s why they kidnaped Jamie. My dad has to be next.”

  “Or, they’re using your dad as bait.”

  “No doubt. We just gotta be smarter than them. Speaking of, I think we’ll need some help from our hacker friend.”

  “Let it rain!” said Aedan and we both laughed. During our invasion to free Jamie, Angelfire had turned on the fire sprinklers to divert some of the Somatotech goons.

  “Wanna head back up and give him a call?”

  “Sure, dude. It’s kinda boring here anyway. Couldn’t they put a TV in somewhere?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Aedan and I drove up to the very same spot in Roxborough State Park to make the call. I dialed the number Manuel had given me back before our falling out, back before we rescued Jamie from Somatotech. Back when I had good relations with him. Aedan kept watch with a flashlight and handgun Stefan had equipped him with.

  “Tony Montana is alive!” said Angelfire, referencing to when I mowed down Somatotech guards while freeing Jamie. His voice had a deeper, rougher tone than before.

  “Hey, Angelfire. You using a voice modifier? Worried about who may be listening?”

  “I’m always worried, Coyle but, no modifier today. Just the natural kind, a cold.”

  “Sorry to hear that. I hope you’re up for a small mission?”

  He didn’t respond at first. “Coyle, I’ve decided to take a more out-of-the-spotlight role in the compound’s missions.”

  “I understand. The last one kinda turned sour; Somatotech proved to be better prepared than we expected.”

  “Whatcha talking about? That one was a resounding success. What I’m talking about are the missions Manuel enslaved you to.”

  “Things have changed—”

  “Y’all back to more personal missions?”

  “Reading my mind are you? I gotta get my dad from the company. He’s not in their headquarters though; he’s out in the open.”

  “Word is you’ve taken the hacienda. Why not enlist your little army to extract him from the company’s clutches?”

  “Wow, you already heard about that?” Word travels fast in the criminal world. “I’m keeping them separate. My affairs with the company are not their affairs, at least not yet.”

  “Smart. And do you have a plan to get him?”

  I described my ideas to him in detail. I knew Somatotech monitored my dad’s movements so if I was to pick him up it needed to be along established routes; nothing could be out of the ordinary. We needed to move him quickly out of range of Somatotech's signal. Through the unintentional experiment with Jamie, the threshold of power seemed to be about a few miles from the tower.

  “So, you need a draw. Something to get your dad close to the tower for extraction?”

  “Exactly.”

  “If I remember correctly, your dad works at Holiday Inn as the head launderer?”

&nbs
p; “Yeah.” Angelfire had done his research.

  “Well, let’s grab him at a Holiday Inn near a tower. There has to be one.”

  I went through the towers and Holiday Inns throughout the Denver area. Sure enough, the Holiday Inn on South Kipling Parkway near C-470 stood only a mile from one of the south Denver towers.

  “The one on South Kipling is the right distance.”

  “Great, so we grab him on his normal rounds out there.”

  “Nah, he always has someone with him. I don’t want to risk hurting an innocent. We have to get him to come at a time when he’d have to do it alone. That’s where you come in.”

  “Oh? You need my help?” the pitch of his voice rose.

  “Don’t flatter yourself; you’re the only hacker I know.”

  “If you knew more, you’d know how good I am.”

  “I was kidding! I know you’re the best.” He didn’t respond. “So, we gotta hack the laundry system, but make it look like a typical extra order. I know they happen, I remember my dad having to go on runs at night.”

  “I’m thinking this little hacking adventure would be a perfect training mission. Whatcha think? Up for the challenge?”

  “I’m up for it. I’d bet I could out program you anyway.”

  “Ah! Getting spunky, I see. No one takes down the master. So, I’ll ignore your comment for the greater good, my little apprentice.”

  Aedan tapped on my shoulder and then motioned toward his watch.

  “I gotta go. I’ll hit you up when I’m at a computer.”

  “ttyl.”

  “Did you just spell out an acronym?” I asked.

  Click. Angelfire hung up, and I laughed.

  “Any other calls you wanna make?” I asked Aedan, showing him the phone.

  “Nah, I’ll call my sis tomorrow, just to check in. Let’s head out.”

  We hopped in the car and started the ten-minute drive back to Sedalia.