by Bob Blink
Just as a check, Ed asked the doctor, "Where is the tumor?"
The doctor looked at the scan and said, "There is no tumor. This brain is completely normal. An expert might spot something minor, but I'd done this enough I can tell you that much. Why, did you expect to find one?"
An hour later they were on their way, both subjects cleared of any fear they had been cloned. The three members of the clinic night shift were locked in the storage room, unlikely to get free before Ed's team was well away from the clinic and on their way to the cabin.
Chapter 36
The time they'd have to talk with the Senator was going to be limited, so Ed had Mitch inject him with the antidote for the knock-out juice when they were about fifteen minutes from the cabin. That would give him sufficient time to become fully alert and able to converse competently by the time they reached their destination. Ed knew he was going to have to put up with a bit of verbal abuse and warnings from the man when he realized he'd been kidnapped, but he was prepared for that. There was no benefit in also waking up the bodyguard, so he left him be.
"Oh crap, where am I?" the Senator groaned roughly five minutes later. "Did I tie one on, or what? Jack, where are you?"
Burrows had taken over the driving duty, so Mitch leaned over so he could get a look at the man.
"Who in hell are you," Senator Conroy asked, when he spotted Mitch looking at him.
Before Mitch could think of a suitable answer, Conroy had glanced around and realized he was in the back of a van, one he didn't recognize or recall getting into. He glanced across the way and spotted the unconscious form of his bodyguard.
"What'd you do to Jack?" he asked. "Is he dead?"
"Same as you," Ed replied, drawing the Senator's attention his way. "We darted him with a good dose of sleepy juice. He's not relevant to the conversation we need to have, so we are letting him sleep."
"Do you realize how much trouble you are going to be in kidnapping a U.S. senator? I assume you know who I am given you have gone to all this trouble to abduct me."
"We're already in trouble," Ed answered.
"So you are," Conroy agreed. "I recognize you, and the FBI guy driving. You're with these guys?" he asked, directing the question toward Burrows.
When he didn't receive an answer, he turned his attention back to Ed, who appeared to be the guy in charge.
"I've seen your face on the news, and read a little about what you've been up to. What does that have to do with me, and just where are we going?" It was obvious he was uncomfortable with the fact he was free to see who his captors were, as if they knew he'd never be telling anyone.
"More than you might think," Ed told him.
"And you're going to tell me, I take it?
"As soon as we reach our destination. It'll take a bit of explaining."
"When do we plan on getting there?
"In about ten minutes," Mitch told him
The sixty-four year old Senator stared at his captor for some time, as if trying to evaluate his own future.
"I'd feel better if you woke Jack up," he said finally.
Ed shook his head.
"That would be one more person to have to watch, and someone to hear what we have to say. If you don't elect to help us, then it's probably best he isn't going around telling tales. You'll understand better later."
Deciding he wasn't going to learn anything until these people were ready to tell him, Senator Conroy decided to forgo any more questions. He was in a potentially very bad situation, but he couldn't see what he might do about it. For the moment he decided to simply see what he might learn by observation, although in the windowless van he couldn't do much. The only window was the front windshield, and from where he was sitting all he could tell was they were traveling down a gravel road with thick tree cover on either side. A glance at his bodyguard showed that the man was still breathing, which made him feel better.
The slowing of the van and the sense of turning alerted the Senator to the fact they had arrived. After a few moments of rocking as the vehicle moved over uneven ground, the FBI guy that the Senator recalled was named Burrows, brought the vehicle to a stop and turned off the engine. The guy riding in back with him opened the slider, and cool, fresh night air flowed into the interior.
Ed saw that Mark and the others had made it ahead of them, which was good because they needed the manpower, and they all should be present to tell the story to the Senator. Mitch helped the Senator out of the vehicle as Mark and Glen came out of the cabin.
"Ah, more of the gang," the Senator noted sarcastically. He glanced around and noted, "Kinda small for your whole group of desperados, isn't it?"
As Mark and Glen lifted the gurney holding the unconscious bodyguard, Ed addressed the question implied by the Senator's comment.
"The news and the police have a lot of this wrong. Not all of those they have listed are a part of this. Some of them are even dead. Not by our hand," he added as the Senator looked sharply his way.
They moved inside, where Jessie and Steph had the fireplace roaring, quickly pushing back the cold that had seeped into the cabin in their absence. Apparently they hadn't arrived very much before Ed's team.
They led the Senator to a seat, while the bodyguard was taken into the bedroom, checked to ensure he was still out, and then left alone. Mitch handed the collection of weapons to Jessie who looked them over.
"Pretty well armed wasn't he?" she asked, looking at the collection.
"The Springfield belongs to the Senator," Mitch said, referring to a small silvery Government Model clone. It was a 9mm marked with the letters "EMP" on the slide.
With everyone now present, Ed took charge of the gathering.
"As I said in the van, time is short. We have a lot to tell you, so let us go through our story, then you can ask any questions that you want. In the end, we hope to have your help."
"And if I agree to help you?"
"Then we'll make arrangements to be able to contact you once you are back in Washington."
"So, I'll get to go home. What if I don't agree to help you? I get buried out here. Seems I could lie, and hope to get home in one piece."
"You go home either way," Ed promised. "It doesn't matter that you know who we are or think you might know where this cabin is. We will be leaving tonight when you are sent off. We've located a new place that better suits our needs. This is all too important to fool around with, and we believe you are smart enough to see that."
"A more conventional approach would have been more likely to earn you some consideration," Senator Conroy suggested.
"Not a chance," Steph said, speaking up for the first time since the Senator had come into the cabin.
"So tell me," the Senator directed.
It took more than an hour. They could sense the disbelief and doubt from the beginning, and twice the Senator attempted to interrupt, but Ed reminded him questions could come later. When the time came for him to have his turn, he said, "That's the wildest story I've ever heard. Aliens, clones, modified brains, strange weapons."
Mark walked over and laid the alien weapon in his lap.
"You get to take that back with you if you agree to help," Mark said.
"This is it?" This is the device you claim causes people to vanish? Aren't you afraid I might turn it one some of you?"
"You can't make it fire," Jessie said.
"It's broken, or simply a fake?" Conroy asked.
"We'll show you it fires," Jessie promised. "We don't have a target we can vaporize, but you'll at least see it triggers a beam."
"How come you can fire it and I can't?" the Senator asked. Then he grinned. "I see. You have that modified brain, and that lets you trigger it. How convenient."
"That's what we've discovered with a little experimentation, Jessie admitted. "The four of us can trigger it, none of the others can, so that appears to be the link. Believe me, I'd trade the ability to be normal like the rest of you."
"Let's say I believe all th
is stuff about nodes on the brain. Why do the rest of these people trust you four? If what you claim is true, you are agents of this alien group."
"We told you how we believe they control us, and that we have apparently escaped from their control. We've been engaged in enough conflict with the enemy, I believe we have proven ourselves," she added.
"But we still watch for any unusual behavior," Ed added, earning a look from Glen.
"And you all claim to have seen copies of some individuals, some simultaneously? You saw copies of Jessie and Mark here, carrying these weapons at the same time they were standing beside you?"
Several members of the group nodded.
"Why haven't the police encountered some of these copies?"
"Unless they are killed appropriately, they vanish," Glen replied. "In a couple of cases, they have made a point of clearing away their dead."
"Yes, I recall you saying that a version of Pam Chou was dispatching fallen enemy at one point. I have trouble with that, but..."
Ed nodded toward Mark.
"Go and get her?"
The Senator looked at Ed oddly in response to the comment.
"Let me ask this," The Senator said. "Part of this deal, your letting me go and all, is that I intervene on your behalf and try to get the charges against all of you reduced, right?"
Jessie shook her head.
"That doesn't matter. Actually, we want you to operate and make no indication you have had contact with any of us. Until you have the right people in place who can discover what we say is true, any mention you have met with us will undermine what you need to do. If we win this battle, the reasons for our actions will be apparent to everyone. If we lose, it won't matter. We'll all be dead."
"So, I'm not to speak in your behalf in any way?"
"That's correct," Ed agreed. "Part of all the rush is to get you back home so you can step into your life as if none of this has happened. That will allow you to act without anyone, especially the aliens, watching you. If you link yourself to us, you could end up vanishing as well. Your bodyguard will have to hold his silence also. It will be up to you to make sure he does that."
Senator Conroy was silent as he considered this unexpected twist. He was about to ask something, when Mark and Glen returned with something on a makeshift stretcher. They set it on the floor close to the group.
"I warn you this will be gruesome and shocking," Ed said, "but you need to see this. Are you ready?"
A bit fearful what might be under the blanket, the Senator nodded and swallowed slowly. The object looked like it might be a body and he was prepared to see some kind of strange being.
Janet pulled back the blanket.
"Oh my god!" the Senator managed. He'd been prepared for almost anything, he'd thought. But not this. "That's Pam Chou. It's not possible. She's dead. I saw her body. I helped identify her, and the tests proved it was her conclusively. This is a fake!"
"That is a clone," Ed said. "Like we've been telling you. She was at the engagement when we were at the medical facility getting a couple of our people patched up. Glen shot her in the head, which disabled the mechanism that causes the clones to vanish when killed."
"There's something you should know," Jessie added. "The autopsy that was performed on the Pam Chou you saw before has been modified. When you go back you can check, but the Medical Examiner who performed the autopsy on her was killed in a car accident. He found the nodes we've mentioned on her brain. That part of his report was purged from the on-line report. Mark had a copy, or did, but it might have been found and destroyed by now. But the Pam you knew was a clone, like us. This is another copy, and I'm certain it will prove to have the nodes when you have the body checked."
"When I have the body checked? What do you mean?"
"Another task for you. It's important you convince yourself that the clones exist. You'll need to find a doctor you can trust. Have him check the body and see if there are nodes. You can have fingerprints taken, or whatever other tests to verify this is also a Pam Chou."
"You're sending me home with this body?"
Mark nodded.
"At some point it is important the nodes be investigated to see what they do and whether they can be disabled. That is very important to the four of us here with them."
Ed handed the Senator a pair of DVD discs.
"These are copies of your MRI and that of your bodyguard. They were made tonight on the way here. They show that neither of you is a clone. It was important to have that verification before we could trust you and tell you what we have discovered."
"You performed an MRI on me tonight? While I was unconscious?"
Janet smiled and nodded.
"You'll read about a strange situation at the Georgetown College medical clinic that will verify it for you."
"You will need to have the same test performed on anyone you decide to bring into this," Ed warned. "We don't know how many clones are out there or how widespread this situation is. We suspect that either the Director or Assistant Director of the FBI is a clone. Look at the organizations the eight of us came from. It is likely there are others in place."
"And these affected people don't realize what they are?"
Steph nodded.
"We had no idea, and only that really bad storm a couple of weeks ago created conditions that made us aware something wasn't right. We managed to break free of their control and have gradually learned what must be going on."
"What if someone refuses to take an MRI?"
"They should have no reason to," Mark said. "As we said, they don't know what they are or what they are doing."
"However," Ed interrupted, "we are starting to see what might be a second kind of clone where this isn't true, so refusal might be something to be very concerned about. One of the original eight, Bud Johnson, has been spotted several times and appears to be an active coordinator for the monitoring and attacks we've been involved in. These aliens might be mobilizing a different kind of force in hopes of containing the growing awareness of their existence. Believe me, we are putting you into a task that will be dangerous and you need to move with all caution."
"You might run into multiple copies of the same clone. I killed a clone duplicate of myself," Mark said, recalling the odd feeling he'd had at the time as he gunned down what appeared to be himself.
Ed checked his watch.
"Okay Senator. Time is about up. Mitch has your bodyguard awake and we're going to bring him in here. You need to instruct him so we don't have a problem. We're not going to ask you what you have decided. We have no way to verify the truthfulness of your answer. Your actions over the next few days will tell us what you have elected to do. Jessie will give you an Internet contact point if you need to reach us. We will be leaving shortly for our new location after you and Jack drive away. You can use the stolen vehicle Janet was driving. Your own car is located in the woods shown on a map we'll give you. You can get home and change, and still make your meeting later this morning. Consider carefully what you elect to do. We believe the fate of the country, and probably the world depends on rooting out this infestation. We don't know if it's possible, but hope you can help us try."
Jessie handed the Senator the little Springfield automatic.
"Think this over carefully," she asked. "It is real."
Chapter 37
The Senator's bodyguard was not a happy man when he was brought from the back room by Glen and Janet. He hadn't been happy with the need to make the phone call earlier in the evening to protect his boyfriend, and felt the action had compromised his integrity. Now, waking up in the tiny room in a roughly finished cabin somewhere in the woods was making him wonder what his future might be, despite claims that he was about to be released. Prisoners were told a lot of things when being led to their deaths.
"Senator!" Jack gasped when he stepped into the common room, seeing his charge sitting unrestrained and seemingly talking with more of this group. He recognized several more of the individuals from
the news.
"Relax, Jack," the Senator said, hoping to calm him down. "I suspect you want to rip several heads off about now, but the situation is very unusual, and I need you to restrain yourself. I'll explain as we drive home. We are about to be released, and we need to get back to D.C. so I can make my morning meeting without delay. Understand?"
"No," Jack replied honestly. "I don't understand how you can be conversing with these kidnappers as if nothing has happened."
"You need to hurry, Senator," Ed reminded the politician, interrupting the exchange.
"Indeed we do," he agreed as he stood up.
"The way out is simple," Mark explained, handing them a carefully drawn map. "Back down the road about four miles you will hit the county road. Go six and a half miles on that and you will hit the interstate. Easy going after that."
Glen had released the restraints on the bodyguard and had handed him a set of keys.
"The brown Ford outside is your ride," Janet told him. "The map the Senator has will take you to the spot where we left the Senator's car. The Ford is hot, so I'd leave it there to be found by the police."
"My guns?" Jack asked, staring angrily at Janet.
"Those are in the trunk of the Ford. You can get them after driving down the road a bit. The Senator already has his, but you need to understand the nature of what happened here before you get your hands on a weapon."