2085

  The second man and the woman went into action, helping to load the replica’s inert body inside the car. Mole could not help paralyzing. Before him was an exact copy of himself, and though in his mind he had rehearsed this scene hundreds of times, his impression from living it had by far surpassed what he had foreseen.

  Standing motionless, he was watching his three companions skillfully resolve the situation, until the time to do his share finally came.

  “Activate your unit!” the woman ordered him while opening the trunk.

  Mole reacted. He reached into his jacket pocket to find the device. He took it in his hands and tried to activate it, but without result. He was so stressed that his ability to energize the gadget was blocked despite having rehearsed hundreds of times before.

  “Now!” she insisted.

  Struggling to regain control the agent tried again, this time successfully.

  “To your car!” the woman urged him. “Take care that timing sticks to the usual, neither faster nor slower.”

  He walked to the car and got in as so many times before. From this moment everything would happen like in every other day. The vehicle started off and rolled outwards. The garage door closed behind him, leaving his companions inside, waiting for the perfect moment to exit without being noticed.

  As the car was moving down the road to the avenue, he turned to have a look at his old house. What he saw caused oppression on his stomach.

  Lucy was standing behind the large window that overlooked the front garden, waving her hand in farewell, just as she used to do in the mornings that followed their romance nights. The color of his skin went to red while inside him an uncontrollable fit of jealousy had unleashed.

  He was still deeply in love with her. He could not bear to confront the evidence that now it was another one who enjoyed her company, even though this other one in some way was also himself. An overwhelming desire to destroy his replica had aroused within him, and this would keep his attention off the road for much of the route. Fortunately the vehicle was able to drive by itself.

  As he got out of the car in front of the corporation’s building he realized that even though it was not yet nine o’clock he was exhausted already. The last hour had been of intense emotions, and that was just the prelude to the day ahead.

  Making an effort to block out what had just happened he focused on performing perfectly while in the building. In a way, the wear out caused on him by these intense emotions now was helping him to relax. The real risks were beginning at this time because he had been disconnected from the recent events and this could attract suspicion on him during any casual conversation. He had to avoid others as much as he could.

  He sped up his pace as he headed to the private elevator leading to floor 104. He barely turned to look at the long line that normally stretched from the elevators meant for public use. The door opened to take him in a fast travel upwards. Soon he was settled inside his old office.

  Everything looked as always. He sat on the chair and leaned for a moment, as if trying to take over the space that for so many years had been his.

  Minutes later his secretary came in; after greeting him she left the usual cup of coffee. If he had been having some doubts about his looks, the indifferent gaze of the girl took care of fading them.

  He activated the information system’s terminal and checked on his work program for the day, as he would have done any other morning. What he read made his heart skip a beat. He had to attend a meeting with the leader an hour later. The idea of standing before the man who had ordered him to be killed and then replicated turned out terribly threatening. Deep inside him he blamed this powerful character for his separation from Lucy. Seeing her standing at the window this morning had made the feeling resurface, which now was causing him aversion to the sole idea of having to meet with him.

  He decided to use the time left before the meeting to study the issues that were in process in the office, so that he would be better informed when attending his ten o’clock commitment. He would leave for a better time his intrusion into confidential files, the main goal of his mission.

  The time to leave the office arrived sooner than desired. He was not sufficiently prepared in case of being questioned about his recent work, but he knew that the worst he could do would be to show late at the meeting room, so he took a deep breath and headed there trying to stick to his pace of any other day while walking across the floor. He found his place and sat down greeting casually those who were already inside. So far, all was going alight.

  25

  The leader, coming through the door with his usual brisk pace, made those present stand up at one time. The ceremonial start of the session would be the same with which he was familiar. Then, when he found that the meeting would simply be informative, he relaxed.

  It had not been 30 minutes when they were evacuating the premises already, once completed the inconsequential meeting. Mole was walking outside with a relieved air when unexpectedly the leader took his arm and held him by his side. He felt his body paralyze. He could not help the look of fear that crossed his face despite his efforts to dissimulate. The leader saw him to the eyes for a moment, and then asked with a soothing voice:

  “Did I startle you?”

  Making a supreme effort to articulate his response the agent said:

  “You have taken me by surprise. I was thinking of other matters.”

  “Well. Do you remember that you invited me a few weeks ago for dinner at your house?”

  “Of course,” he lied, trying to hide his startle.

  “Well, today is an excellent day. I’ll be there with my wife around eight. See you then.”

  Mole was devastated by the order, as this had been precisely such a thing. This eventuality had fallen completely out of the plan. It would tremendously complicate the situation. It would be impossible to reinstate a replica lacking memories and hard to keep awake after having been isomentalized into the informal gathering of this night. On the other hand, if deciding to attend the engagement, he would be forced to change his return plan. He had to decide what to do and tell his mates without arousing suspicion. The mission was becoming increasingly demanding.

  As soon as he was back in his office he called Lucy. He was nervous and excited expecting to hear her voice again. When his wife’s face appeared on the screen of the information system, he felt as if being about to crumble. His words helplessly came out with a mellow tone despite not being accustomed to speak this way.

  “Hello, my love,” answered Lucy to her husband’s call. “What’s going on?”

  He could not help to question:

  “How have you been?”

  “Since this morning?” she said mockingly. “Looks like I treated you very well last night. It’s not eleven yet and you are missing me already.”

  Realizing his mistake he continued:

  “We will have guests for dinner. The leader and his wife. They will be there at eight.”

  Lucy reacted excited. Since her husband’s promotion she had been looking forward to the day when they would finally be granted the honor of receiving such distinguished visitors. For her this was an unprecedented event that deserved her total dedication.

  “What a joy!” she replied. “What do you want me to prepare?”

  “I leave it in your hands. You are better host than I.”

  “I am very excited. I will cancel all my activities for this day to prepare a flawless event.”

  “Show off!” he said

  “I will, do not worry. Now I must get going, I have a thousand things to do.”

  “See you in the evening.”

  “I’ll be expecting you. Don’t be late.”

  What once would have been a simple routinely casual conversation, this time had given him such a pleasure that his feeling of anxiety had vanished already.

  Weeks before, when he knew he would be in his office once again, he had thought about the possibility of holding a conversation with Lucy, but
he could not decide if he would dare. Now, circumstances had forced him to do so and were making him visit her at home. He would not let this opportunity pass. He would willingly sacrifice everything for a few hours with her. He was happy to take the risk, and if the mission happened to fail for that reason, little would he care. This strong was the effect of foreseeing to reunite with his wife.

  Thinking no more about the risks, he started the search within the information system of the file he had to copy. Although he knew he would recognize its contents as soon as he set eyes on them, he ignored the file’s name or its location, so he began to follow every route that could take him there, opening and closing hundreds of entries after a quick peep, until finally, by lunchtime, he managed to find it.

  The copying process would be slow, so he decided to begin after coming back from the dining room and set off towards there as it had been his custom during the years he had worked in the building.

  The senior executive dining facility was so elegant that had little or nothing to ask from the most sophisticated restaurants in town. Managed by an excellent chef and served by an efficient staff, it would have met the standards of the most exclusive club for gourmets.

  As he was entering the dining room, the nefarious cook that had made him suffer so much at the training camp came back to his mind; but this time, once overcome that stage, this resulted in a fit of good humor. This, plus the expectation of tasting high-cuisine again, was promising him a comforting break that would ease a little bit his battered mood, even if only for a while.

  He sat beside the colleagues with whom he used to share the table. Then, refraining from conversation as much as possible, he took advantage of this opportunity to relax while struggling not to think about anything but to enjoy the moment.

  Some of those at the table knew well that he had defected and now were presuming to be sharing lunch with his replica. He was having fun from knowing that he was deceiving them at this very moment, and none of them would even have the slightest suspicion of what was going on. A new smile was on his face.

  The food they served him turned out to be as good as expected. He knew that if there was something that in the future he could get to miss of his job in the corporation, that would be precisely the exquisite cuisine they served, and at times he had done it already, like just a week before, when the cook of the training camp had caused him severe digestive disorders.

  When the time to go back to his activities came, he had finally regained his peace. He leisurely went to his office and locked himself in after leaving instructions to his secretary not to be disturbed. He took the wallet with the storage gadget and opened it; then he carefully unfolded the delicate optical elements meant to read the screen of the information system’s terminal. He opened the file he had located before lunch to take on the task of copying page after page the information that had begun to show on the screen. Thereafter he focused on performing this hard work.

  It took nearly two hours for this recording system to store the valuable contents of the file; it was so slow that he was having time to read what was being displayed before his eyes.

  Now he had understood why it was so important to the enemies of the corporation to get this information. Everything was there; places, methods, monitoring mechanisms, access codes, names, and missions in process. Whoever possessed such knowledge could easily outwit the Internal Security Central and there would be nothing to be done to prevent it. Only someone feeling immensely confident in his power would have dared to gather all that data into a single file. Now, the overconfidence of the leader when doing so was about to cost him ending up helpless before the intelligence network of the reaction.

  He had two more hours to spend in the building before the end of the day. His temptation of taking revenge of the system, which now he despised, was becoming greater, but he could not come up with some strategy that would let him do so without getting exposed.

  Recalling his years as a programmer, and taking advantage of what he had learned a while before, he began to develop a capsule within the system that should automatically open a few days later and release a simple but powerful computer virus, such as those that were not even sought during routine security checks. Once finished, he would nest it within the leader’s domain. He named it Mole. Near the time of departure he was about to finish. This little time-bomb would stay hidden, ready to explode when he were sheltered already under the reaction’s homeland security.

  Now he was on the verge of euphoria, savoring in advance the result of his act of sabotage and enjoying the power demonstration it represented, as in fact this was a personal vendetta. He had to make an effort to keep in control before leaving his office to go to the parking lot. He should not cross the lobby with this radiant expression of joy that was on his face.

  Once inside the car he got to relax for the first time since this morning. He had been so busy during his visit to the corporate headquarters that time had flown. So far, the plan had been executed to the letter and smoothly, but now he had to resolve the leader’s unexpected visit to his home. He instructed the vehicle to go to the agreed meeting point at the mall. Then he took advantage of the trip’s time to refine his plan to deal with this eventuality. He was hoping to convince the rest of the team to accept the proposal in which he had been working since this morning.

  As the car came to the entrance of the shopping center he took the command to drive it to the point where his teammates were waiting for him.

  The woman’s voice was immediate:

  “We will do the substitution and you will program the car to drive him home. He is about to wake up.”

  “Just a moment,” said Mole. “Something has arisen.”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The leader has decided to dine tonight at eight at home, and this guy you have guarded all day is in no shape to meet the commitment.”

  “You got that right. What do you propose?”

  “I will change clothes with him and go back home. The leader will leave at eleven o’clock. You will give me enough time to force Lucy to use the isomentalizer and then we will make the change. I am guessing that 12:30 will be a good time.”

  “Sounds good. Are you sure you can make it?”

  “Do not worry. Don’t forget this is my house.”

  “Change of plans, boys,” she said to her companions. “You have already heard. Help him change clothes with this guy,” she added pointing to the inert body on the backseat, “and call home to say you are missing dinner.”

  “Here, have the information,” he said giving her the wallet. “Under these circumstances it’s better that you have it. Can you do the transmission?”

  “Yes,” she answered. “We also need the optical intercom.”

  “That’s right,” he agreed, and reached into his jacket pocket to find it. “Here you go.”

  Minutes later he was heading home to meet Lucy. He was feeling immensely lucky to have this new opportunity brought by chance.

  He had no doubt about the procedure to be used to force her to erase her memory because he had tried it three times before, each time with the same result. Even though, he had not ruled out the possibility of convincing her this time to follow him into exile, and though he could sense that he was deceiving himself when thinking this way, he knew it was worth trying.

  The view of the trees lining the driveway to his house quickened the beating of his heart, as if addressing his first love date with someone very special. Like the first time he went to Lucy’s house to take her out. Professor Naim’s words came back to him. He was feeling like a child.

  He put the car in the garage and walked apace to the main door. He could not wait another minute to hold her, to feel her body next to his and kiss her passionately on the lips.

  He came in abruptly and walked even faster toward the dining room, where Lucy was setting the table for the big dinner.

  When she saw him entering so hastily she could not hide her astonishme
nt. She stood amazed, watching him as he approached. When he got to her he surrounded her waist with his arms, pressing strongly while sinking his nose in that neck that gave off the scent of his favorite perfume. He inspired deeply to seize the aroma.

  She said laughing:

  “What happens? Do you want more of last night’s?”

  He did not answer. He better kissed her long and passionately in the lips. Then, taking her in his arms, he set off to the bedroom. She stretched her arms around his neck and fixed her eyes on him, unable to conceal the deep love he had always felt for her man.

  Entangled in each other, they climbed the stairway and entered the room, and then closed the door behind them to remain so, safeguarding the passionate scene meant to go on inside until their visitors were about to arrive.

  26

  The doorbell insistently ringing made Lucy hurry down from the top floor, holding in one hand the high heel shoes she hadn’t had time to put on. The waiter had just arrived and now was beside the three musicians that were there already, all of them waiting to be allowed in the house.

  The hostess had planned an elegant but relaxed atmosphere for the evening. To her, this event represented the exam to which the leader’s wife will be subjecting her in order to have her accepted in the highest social circles. She knew that the following day’s comments among women of the elite of power would deal precisely upon the gathering that would begin a few minutes later; the one she was responsible for organizing. She was determined to show off.

  This time she had personally cooked each of the dishes, resorting to the vast culinary knowledge she had acquired during her long life. Then she had set the most elegant table ever seen at home.