Now I was even more confused. “Then why—”
“I’m a freak of nature.”
I looked at him, not sure how to respond. He was rambling. None of this made any sense. It was all just a bizarre nightmare. Any minute now I was sure I was going to wake and everything would be all right.
“I have three university degrees. Got the first when I was eleven. My IQ has been impossible to measure,” he said without pride. “It’s alleged to be somewhere between 250-275.”
“Einstein’s was 163,” I recalled. “Newton’s was something like 180.”
He nodded. “I was quite advanced—walked and talked by six months, I’m told. I learned to read before I was two,” he said. “My stepfather sold his soul to the devil for success years ago. I was part of the deal.”
“How?”
"My mother was young, she needed money," he began. "Edward's company was heavily involved in experiments involving genetic engineering. He made her an offer that would have paid for her university education. She was to be a human incubator—impregnated by in vitro fertilization with a genetically-enhanced embryo. She would bear the child—me—and hand me over after I was born. But in the course of her pregnancy, she realized she couldn't do it. There was a connection—I was her child, no matter how I was conceived. She ran away, went back to her family in Scotland. But she couldn't tell them how she got pregnant, so her zealot of a father called her a whore and kicked her out.
"She had nowhere to go. She took a job in a pub and worked until I was born. Then Edward found her. He told her his associates were planning to take legal action to get me back. He made her an offer that would put an end to any legal actions—she would have to marry him and return to London with him."
"Marry him?" I asked.
"He'd wanted her from the start," Connor said. "He knew she was scared and would do anything to keep her child. He took advantage of the situation to get her into bed."
"So she was trapped," I concluded.
He nodded. “They wanted me, and they would have done anything to get me back. I was to be the template for a master race they wished to create,” he said. “Through genetic research, they planned to develop human embryos that would become physically and intellectually flawless men and women.”
“They wanted to clone you?”
He shook his head. “Cloning never suited their purposes. All of the children born through cloning would look exactly alike. All the same sex. Besides, I was flawed—I'm epileptic.”
I waited for him to continue.
“She couldn't live with the devil's bargain she'd made," he continued. "She had gotten pregnant with Sarah. She had no voice in how I was being raised. She felt helpless and humiliated. After Sarah was born, Mum began to plan our escape. The problem was that Edward and his associates knew what she was planning. One day when she was out, an accident was arranged…a vehicle accident. She was killed, leaving Edward the sole legal guardian of Sarah and me."
"Is Sarah—" I couldn't say the words.
"Genetically enhanced?" he asked. "No. My sister was an unplanned pregnancy. I remember Edward being furious when he found out Mum was pregnant. He wanted her slim and beautiful, his perfect concubine."
“You became a geneticist yourself,” I began. “Why, after all their research had cost you?”
“I wanted to find a way to eradicate genetically inherited illnesses. Their lead scientist mentored me, encouraged me and eventually drew me into their plans. Ego took over. I foolishly believed my work would one day benefit humanity. They, on the other hand, had no interest in anything other than power and profit.”
He hesitated. “Now they want our baby.”
I stared at him. I was speechless.
“They—we—have been implanting genetically altered embryos into women who went to fertility clinics seeking help in conceiving,” he said. “At first, I’d chosen you to be one of the surrogates.”
“At first?”
“I fell in love with you. If you were going to have a baby, it would have to be mine,” he said. “I took you out of the running, so to speak. When they discovered you were pregnant, they set their sights on our child.”
“Why?”
“My offspring,” he said. "They're anxious to see if my child has inherited my so-called gifts."
I shook my head. I felt numb. “This is insane.”
“We have to leave,” he insisted. “Go somewhere where they can’t find us.”
“I can’t leave. I won’t leave.” I was angry. “You’ve lied to me. I don’t even know who you are, and you expect me to just take off with you?”
“This is not open for discussion!” he snapped. “These bastards murdered my mother. They won’t have any qualms about killing again to get what they want. I will not allow them to take you and our child as well. I’m leaving, and you’re going with me.”
40
Connor
I had to buy some time. Keep Edward at bay until I could come up with a plan.
“Take her and go. Take her to Christ’s church and you will find safe sanctuary. God will show you the way.”
“God!” That made me laugh. “Where was God when my mother was being murdered?”
“She is with Him now. He has always been with both of you. He has been looking out for you.”
“Good job,” I said sarcastically.
“Go. The angels will guide you.”
I stared up at the clear, star-filled sky and knew for the first time what it was like to want another human being dead.
41
Lynne
I couldn’t sleep. I lay in bed, trying to process this new reality, and wondered where Connor had gone.
He hadn’t come to bed, hadn’t slept, hadn’t spoken since his mind-blowing confession. I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to go with him in the morning, but I knew he wasn’t going to give me a choice. I didn’t doubt for a moment that he would carry me out of Egypt bodily if I refused. He was convinced they—whoever they were—would kill me to take our baby.
I’d never seen him like this before. I felt as though I didn't really know him. I found myself remembering when Darcy asked me how well I knew the man I'd married. I wondered if he knew something I didn't.
The man I married…are we even married? Is it legal?
You’re married in the eyes of God.
I tried to make sense of it all, but all I could think about was that I didn’t know my own husband.
42
Connor
The answer came to me during the night. I phoned Edward the next morning.
“You can tell them I’ll give them what they want.”
“That’s a wise decision, son.” Edward sounded relieved.
“Two weeks, Edward. We need two weeks to take care of our business here.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“See that it’s not.”
“We’re going to Rome,” I told Lynne. “We’ll be safe there for the next few weeks. We’ll take only what is absolutely necessary.”
She shook her head. “I can’t do this,” she said.
“We have no choice,” I argued. “These people are killers. I’ll not allow them to take our baby from us the way Sarah and I were taken from our mum. I’ll not let them take you from me, no matter what I have to do.”
I took our passports from the drawer and tucked them into my coat pocket. “I won’t leave you here. The only way I can keep you safe is by keeping you with me.”
“What about Tim and the others?”
“They’ll be safe as long as we’re not here, as long as they know nothing of our plans.” I insisted.
“What are we going to tell them?” she asked.
“Only that we’re going on holiday,” I said. “We’re going to Rome for two weeks because after the baby comes, we won’t be able to do that sort of thing.”
“And what will we actually be doing there?” Lynne asked.
“We’re going
there to die.”
43
Lynne
As the plane began its descent to Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, I peered through the window at the city below, wondering if I would ever see my family again. Wondering if I would ever see Tim or Isabella again. My hand rested on my abdomen. They want our baby, I reminded myself. There’s no choice. He’s right about that. We have to protect our baby.
Beside me, Connor was silent. He’d been working on his laptop since we left Cairo and was now shutting it down. I wondered what he was doing, what he was looking for, but I didn’t ask. A part of me didn’t want to know.
“We’re going there to die.” He intended to fake our deaths so we could escape. We would have to take new names, new identities. For how long? I wondered. For good? Will we be fugitives for the rest of our lives?
“I’ve booked us at the Hotel Eden,” Connor said then.
I didn’t respond. He was a stranger to me now, someone I didn't know at all.
He put his hand over mine. “It’s going to be all right,” he said softly.
I couldn’t look at him. “Is it?” I asked.
He moved his hand to my abdomen. “I won’t allow anyone to take this wee one from us, I promise you. I’ll kill anyone who tries.”
I faced him for the first time. The look in his eyes told me he meant it.
“I can sleep there, if you prefer,” Connor said, gesturing toward the couch.
I hugged myself tightly as if trying to shut him out. I hesitated, almost said yes, then shook my head. “You don’t have to do that.” Whatever doubts I had, I was sure of one thing: he would kill to keep us safe.
He studied me for a moment as if he knew what I was thinking. “Think you’ll ever be able to forgive me?” he wanted to know.
I inhaled deeply. “I don’t know how to process this,” I answered truthfully, looking down at the floor. “Two days ago, I was married to the man I love, carrying a baby I never thought I’d have, and I could not have been happier,” I said. “Now, I don’t even know my own husband and my baby’s the target of a bunch of loonies.”
He looked sad. “You’re the only one who does know me,” he insisted. “After I lost my mum, I dedicated myself to shutting everyone out so I’d never be hurt like that again. You’re the only one I’ve let in.”
“Do I call you Connor or Andrew?” I asked.
“It doesn’t matter, really. You married a man, not a name,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, the man Andrew had become died the day I realized I loved you.”
I still couldn’t look at him. “That easy, huh?”
“It was never easy,” he disagreed.
“How did I figure into your plan?” I asked. “How was I chosen to be one of your guinea pigs?”
“Being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he admitted. He turned away, unable to face me as he confessed. “When you mentioned you wanted children, opportunity presented itself. You were ideal for our needs. You were single, you’d exhausted every possible avenue of conception, you’re healthy, intelligent—”
“Desperate,” I finished.
He hesitated. “Yeah,” he said finally.
“You offered to arrange an in vitro for me,” I recalled. “If I had said yes to that, would you have supplied the sperm?”
“That wasn’t the original plan, no,” he said. “I’ve always been careful to make sure I didn’t procreate.”
This surprised me. “Why?”
“I didn’t want children,” he admitted. “I didn’t want obligations, legal or emotional.”
“So why did you volunteer to impregnate me? Did you just offer to get me into bed? Did you plan to prevent pregnancy and continue pretending to make the effort until you tired of me?”
“I might have, had I not fallen in love with you,” he said. “My defenses are damn good, but you got past them.”
I wished I knew how to respond. For the first time since I fell in love with him, I wasn’t sure of anything.
44
Connor
I thought she was asleep at first, she was so still. I got into bed with her and embraced her from behind. I kissed her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re still awake.” I kissed her neck, stroked her arm.
She withdrew. It was only a slight movement, but it spoke volumes. I felt as though she’d slapped me. I pulled myself upright. “How long are we going to go on like this?” I asked, frustrated.
She turned over to face me. “How can you even think about sex, with all that’s happening to us?” she wanted to know.
“I need my wife,” I said.
“You have me.”
“Do I?” I asked, unconvinced. “Do you still love me?”
She hesitated. “Yes, I do,” she said. “My judgment when it comes to men is as crappy as it’s ever been.”
I could tell by the look on her face that she’d regretted the words as soon as she’d spoken them. I shook my head. “Your feelings for me haven’t changed, but your opinion of my character has. Is that it?” I asked.
She wouldn't look at me. “I’m still trying to figure out what’s real and what isn’t.”
I noticed she had stopped calling me by name. “My love for you is real,” I tried to reassure her. Then I placed my hand on her abdomen. “This is real.”
“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?” she wanted to know.
“No,” I answered, “but I suspect there’s a great deal my loving stepfather hasn’t told me.”
I got out of bed, restless, and went to the window, staring into the darkness. “I always found his associates a bit strange, but Edward dismissed it as the eccentricity of the obscenely wealthy. I was too self-absorbed to question it all too carefully. They were pouring billions into my research. That’s all I cared about then.”
Lynne sat up. “You were going to use me as an incubator.” She couldn’t get past it. “What would I have given birth to?”
“A baby—a beautiful, healthy, exceptional child.” I paused. “But no more so than our baby will be.”
“You said there were other genetically engineered children," she remembered. "Did they know what they were getting into?"
“No. We didn’t have many volunteers,” I said. “We altered embryos created in vitro at fertility clinics.”
“So the couples who went to these clinics ended up with babies that were not really their own?”
“Not exactly. We did use the biological parents’ ovum and sperm—with some genetic enhancements,” I said. “They got beautiful, healthy, highly intelligent children. There were no losers, or so I believed at the time.”
“If something—anything—had been done to our baby, I’d want to know about it,” Lynne said. “Is that why you were on the run?”
“No one knew about that at the time I left the U.S.,” I said. “I was wanted for the genetic tampering of a racehorse. Edward owned a mare who was about to be bred. She was to be artificially inseminated. I tweaked things a bit and Icarus’ Agenda was foaled. Nothing on four legs could beat him.”
“The press called him the Bionic Horse,” Lynne remembered. “How were you found out?”
“There was an accident at the track,” I said. “A jockey was killed. One of the horses had to be put down. There was an inquiry, and in the course of the investigation, it all came out. I was in America at the time. Edward arranged for my new identity and got me out before they could arrest me.”
“What became of the children born of your experiments?” Lynne wanted to know.
“I wish I knew.”
“Did something go wrong?”
“The growth hormones caused the children to mature too rapidly,” I said. “We realized the parents would begin to see that something was wrong. I discovered after the fact that Edward’s associates had arranged to have the children collected.”
“Collected?”
“Their quaint way of saying the children were abducted.”
“Abducted?”
I nodded.
“Where are they now?”
“I haven’t a clue.”
“How fortuitous that you happened to already be in Rome,” I said, extending my hand. “Connor Mackenzie.”
Julian Marshall stared at me for a moment before shaking my hand. “Have we met before?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t believe so, no, but you came highly recommended.”
“By whom?” Marshall asked cautiously.
“Interpol.”
“Ah, yes. They’re great admirers of my work, I hear.” Marshall paused. “How did you know where to contact me?”
I smiled. “No magic to it, old chap. I saw you in the hotel lobby when my wife and I arrived two days ago.”
We met for lunch in the restaurant at the Eden. I made a point of not having Lynne there. After our waiter had taken the order, Marshall said, “I was a bit surprised you wanted to meet here, Mr. Mackenzie. Such a public place.”
“Exactly why I chose it,” I told him. “Sometimes the best place to hide is out in the open.”
“It’s your call.” Marshall paused. “What is it you wish me to obtain for you?”
“Interpol’s files indicate you’re a man who can obtain certain illegal documents,” I started. “I wish to obtain falsified records for myself and my wife—passports, drivers’ licenses, that sort of thing. At least half a dozen sets, using different names on each set. I will provide the photographs.”
Marshall nodded. “That won’t be difficult at all.”
“Cost is not a problem.”
“I’ll need a bit of time.”
“How much?”
“A week.”
“See that it takes no longer.”
45
Chasing the Wind Page 16