by J. J. Green
“I wasn’t about to deny anything, Mr. Lee,” Harrington said. “We’ll do all we can to help.”
“I’m certainly glad to hear it. Please begin by telling me what you think might be the reason for her disappearance.”
Carl and Harrington explained about the Shadows.
“Yes.” Mrs. Lee nodded. “Sayen did tell us what had happened on her last mission. And you really think they might have something to do with what’s happened to my daughter?”
Carl went on to tell the couple about his missing parents and his and Harrington’s suspicions that there might be some kind of cover-up going on about Shadows on Earth. He told them that Sayen had been trying to uncover information in the Global Government’s databanks. By the time he’d finished, Sayen’s parents’ expressions were grave. Mrs. Lee put her face in her hands.
“I’d heard the rumors, Carleen,” said Mr. Lee. “We both had. If only we’d known what she was trying to do. We could have stopped her. Why oh why did I help her get that job?”
“You mean you already knew about the Shadows?” Carl asked.
“No, we didn’t,” said Mrs. Lee, raising her head, “but we knew something was going on that we weren’t being told about. Craven and I work for the Government. We’ve been in the job for over thirty years, and we know it inside out. A few months ago, we began to suspect that we were being deprived of information and excluded from certain meetings. Any subtle inquiries we made were met with silence and a closing of the ranks. There was obviously something big and highly sensitive going on. It must have been to do with these Shadows.” She looked upward as if in supplication. “Dear Lord, if I’d known Sayen was getting herself mixed up in governmental intrigues, I would never have let her get involved.”
“These people...” Mr. Lee looked gravely at Carl and Harrington. “You have no idea what they’re capable of.”
“My little girl,” said Mrs. Lee softly. “Craven, what are we going to do?”
“Everything we can, Carleen. We’re going to do everything we can to get her back. We still have friends. Don’t forget that.
“Mr. Lingiari, Ms. Harrington, we need your help. Sayen has touched on something sensitive, and she’s been taken. Whoever it was who took her, they have to be very high up. It has to be people who are confident that their actions will be beyond reproach. There aren’t many who are above our circles of influence. Thank you for being frank with us. Now that we know what Sayen was doing, we can begin to turn the wheels that will bring these people’s actions to light.
“Unfortunately, for the time being, we can’t leave our home. Due to our connection to Sayen, the chances are that these individuals may try to take us too. We can’t do a thing in person to go get to our baby girl. We would ask her brother to bring her back, but he’s at the other end of the galaxy.”
“Wait a minute, are you saying you know where she is?” Carl asked.
“We do,” Mrs. Lee replied. “We know exactly where she is. She’s on an air transport, and it’s out over the Atlantic, heading toward Africa. We’re keeping track of it.” In response to Carl and Harrington’s surprised expressions, she went on, “When Sayen was undergoing her cloning treatment, we had a tracer inserted into her body. Was it overstepping the mark? Yes. Was it invading her privacy? You betcha. Do I regret it? Not for a second.” She gazed at them defiantly.
“Whatever the rights and wrongs of what we did,” said Mr. Lee, “if we hadn’t done it, I doubt we’d ever see our darlin’ again.”
“Where is she?” Carl asked. “We’ll get her back.”
“Come with me,” Mrs. Lee said, rising. “I’ll show you how to trace her and give you anything else you need. Whatever it might be, just ask.”
Chapter Eleven
Sayen sat in darkness. She was hot. Stripping down to her underwear had provided some relief, but not much. Though her enhanced skin provided some protection from the heat inside the box where the Shadows had put her, breathing in the hot air had raised her body temperature to uncomfortable levels.
She guessed the box wasn’t much more than a meter in every direction. The ceiling was too low for her to stand up, and the walls were too close together for her to lie down outstretched. They were made of metal, and they were warm to the touch. There was no ventilation.
That morning, when she’d arrived for work, the Minister had been out of the office. Sayen had been glad because it meant she would be left to her regular work without being interrupted to research something in particular. She’d anticipated the opportunity to exploit the crack she’d found in the security surrounding the files on the Shadows. She’d thought she’d disabled any unauthorized access alerts. She’d been wrong.
After only minutes of reading, wide-eyed, the files on the Shadows, Bernie had entered her office without knocking. Gone were his twinkling eyes and cheery expression. It had all been a facade. Bernie had the expression of a corpse. As he’d grabbed her, two more men had come in, including the man who’d met her that first day whose face she couldn’t place.
Sayen had fought, of course. She’d resisted with every ounce of her newly enhanced strength, but after she’d broken one of the men’s arms, Bernie had knocked her out.
Blindfolded and with her wrists bound with wire, she’d come around aboard a heli, and they’d flown for seven or eight hours before touching down. She recalled stumbling through vegetation, the muzzle of a weapon of some kind pressed to her skull, before being pushed into the box.
Since then, she’d managed to work the blindfold off of her head, but as there was no light in the box, it made no difference to her. She still had little idea where she was, except that it was somewhere hot. From the length of the flight, she guessed she was somewhere in Africa.
The Shadows had her. She wondered how long she had before they would try to make a Shadow of her too. That would not happen. She wouldn’t let it. The thought of a Shadow Sayen returning home to her parents turned her stomach. She would rather die than expose them to danger.
She was dizzy with the heat, and her skin was slick with sweat. She licked her arm to try to relieve her dry, swollen mouth. She stopped mid-lick. What had she been thinking? She was forgetting her physical enhancements. Maybe she could break out of her prison.
Sayen wasted no time. She’d located the door by feeling the walls, and she’d pushed it once before. This time she really pushed it. The metal bent under the pressure she applied, but the door didn’t open. Sayen shifted back in the box. Bracing herself against the opposite wall, she put both her feet against the door and pushed with her legs. As she gasped with the effort, the door buckled. Bright light streamed through chinks on either side. She’d nearly gotten it open.
Bending her knees, Sayen drew up her legs. She spread her arms for balance and gave the door a massive kick. Whatever was holding it closed broke, and the door flew open, revealing lush vegetation. The rich, 'green’ aroma of the jungle rushed in.
The daylight was incredibly bright after the hours she’d spent in pitch darkness, but Sayen’s enhanced eyes reacted to the change immediately.
Outside, someone shouted.
Sayen scrambled out of the box. She was in a clearing of knee-high grass and plants, bordered in the distance by tall trees hung with moss and vines. Figures were running toward her across the clearing. The nearest escape route seemed to be the forest. Sayen set off toward the trees at a sprint, heading for the safety of the darkness between the trunks.
She heard more shouts coming from behind her. Time seemed to slow down. Every step she took, she expected to feel the pain of a laser burn. Would she feel the beams hitting her, or would it all be over before she knew what had happened? She was running fast, faster than an unenhanced human could ever run. Another ten seconds and she would make it. She could hardly believe her luck had lasted so long. Why weren’t the Shadows shooting?
Then it came. Something exploded against her back, and suddenly she couldn’t feel her legs. The impetus of her ru
nning carried her forward, and she found herself sliding through the vegetation face down. A horrible slicing sensation across her face and the bare skin of her arms and legs were the last things she felt before she lost consciousness.
***
Something was tugging at her ankles, and her back hurt. Her back hurt a lot. Sayen opened her eyes to see a jungle canopy passing overhead, the blue sky visible in patches between the leaves and branches. She lifted her head to look forward. Two men were dragging her, holding one of her ankles each. She was being pulled down a track.
Her undershirt was pulled up, and the rough track was scraping the skin of her back. Sayen felt like she was being shredded. She struggled violently and ripped her ankles out of the Shadows’ grips. In a moment, she was up and running again.
But she didn’t get far. That time, they were ready. Within moments, she felt another explosion against her back.
The next time she came around, she was lying on her front. The second thing she registered was pain from all over her body. She fought the urge to move. As soon as they knew she was awake, the Shadows would stun her again. She needed a better plan than running to get away.
Slowly, Sayen opened her eyes. Blades of grass obscured her view. The blades were stained red, with her blood, she guessed. She wasn’t inside a Shadow trap yet, at least.
Someone was approaching her. More than one person. Large, powerful hands grabbed her around the waist. She was lifted onto a man’s shoulder. Sayen tried to remain limp so that the Shadow man would think she was still unconscious. She held her eyes only slightly open as she tried to take in as much of her surroundings as she could.
There was the structure she’d been expecting to see: the hexagonal blocks of a Shadow trap, deep within an African jungle, where it would be easy to hide. The trees were close together, no doubt helping to screen the trap from the overhead view of planes and helis.
If she could just get a few seconds’ head start on the Shadows, if she could just make it far enough that they wouldn’t have a clear shot at her with a stunning laser beam, she could get away. From the sounds around her, Sayen guessed the man was accompanied by three or four more Shadows.
They’d reached the trap. As soon as they entered the hexagonal doorway, the cool interior raised goosebumps on Sayen’s skin. She would have to act now, before it was too late.
The Shadow carrying her stopped, and his shoulders shifted as he moved to lower Sayen down. As his hands fastened around her and raised her, the man’s head came into view. Sayen drove her elbow into the side of it. His skull swung away sharply, and there was a loud report as his neck cracked. His body jerking, the Shadow hit the floor. Sayen fell with him, but she broke away and landed on her feet.
The other Shadows were immediately upon her. She grabbed the nearest one and drove its head into the stony wall. Its cranium shattered, and the Shadow woman slid to the ground, leaving a trail of blood, hair, and brains.
Another Shadow had hold of Sayen. His arms wrapped over hers in a bear hug. Sayen broke his grip and was about to turn and attack him, but another Shadow kicked her feet out from under her. Sayen fell. Her chin jarred against the floor, sending a shockwave through her head. Her mouth filled with blood.
As she tried to rise, she felt a third explosion in her back. No, she screamed inside. They’d stunned her again. She’d failed. She was going to die. She was facing the doorway. Bright green vegetation framed by a dark, hexagonal hole faded from her sight.
***
She was alive, but she could see nothing but darkness. Sayen reached out and felt familiar, smooth metal. She was in a box like the one the Shadows had put her in before. But she’d bent and broken that one. They must have put her in a new box.
Wincing, she sat up. Every inch of her was sore. Her lips felt funny. She put a hand to her mouth and found that it was swollen. Dried blood encrusted her chin.
Something must have gone wrong. The last thing she remembered was being inside a Shadow trap. They’d stunned her for the third time. She’d thought that the Shadows would kill her, and a new Sayen would appear. That was what people thought happened. Or had they got it wrong? Were the Shadows’ victims kept in prison while their replacements took over their lives?
Feeling around the inside of the box, Sayen found the edge that marked the door. She kicked it with all her might, but the thing didn’t move. She gasped in pain at the shock that ran up her legs. The Shadows must have reinforced the door somehow.
She kicked it again, but the door didn’t move a centimeter. Exhausted and in pain, she flopped to the floor. So much for her enhancements. She was trapped.
A scraping sound came from outside. Sayen was thrown to one side as the box tilted. It was being lifted up. She swayed as the box was moved. She was being taken somewhere.
Chapter Twelve
Carl looked out of the shuttle window as they sped back to London. Harrington was distracted, mailing someone on her interface. The last time they’d looked at the tracer dot that marked Sayen’s location, it had shown she was in Gabon.
Far beneath, a dark seascape sped by. They were gaining on the sunrise, flying toward it over the ocean. He and Harrington had argued. He’d wanted to fly directly to Africa.
They didn’t know how long they had before the Shadows killed and replicated Sayen, but Harrington had insisted that they needed to equip themselves properly before attempting a rescue. They would have only one chance, and they had to make it count.
Carl couldn’t erase from his imagination the image of Sayen being taken into one of the Shadow traps. He hoped that the aliens would think twice before killing and replacing the daughter of one of Earth’s most influential families. Whatever the creatures were, they weren’t stupid.
In Carl’s experience, they worked smartly, targeting the top individuals in a hierarchy and keeping their actions secret as long as possible. There was a small chance that replacing Sayen with a Shadow was a risk they didn’t want to take at that stage.
He suspected that the Shadows’ method was to replace as much of a population as they could before they were discovered, and then subdue and replace the rest. Why they did it and what their ultimate plan was, he couldn’t guess.
He wondered what Sayen had found out before she was taken.
Beside him in the shuttle’s passenger cabin, Harrington closed her interface’s screen and sat back.
“Did you get what you wanted?” Carl asked.
“Not yet. Someone’s working on it. If he can get the stuff, it’ll be ready by the time we arrive.”
“So what is this stuff that’s so important?”
Harrington gave him a sidelong glance. “Just stuff.” When Carl raised his eyebrows, she added, “It might make all the difference. You know I wouldn’t delay rescuing Sayen otherwise.”
Carl sighed and returned to staring out the window. “Yeah, I know.”
He wished the shuttle would go faster. He wished he was flying it. He would have them in London and then on to rendezvous with the heli that was carrying Sayen in no time. As well as his concern for his friend, his impatience was driven by the urge to find out more about the Shadows. He was desperate to locate his parents.
As soon as they were out of the spaceport in London, Carl and Harrington ran to catch an autocab to take them to meet her contact.
Harrington had arranged to meet him at an underpass not far from a freeway. The place was rank with the odor of stale piss and the acrid smell of unwashed bodies and clothes. The contact was accompanied by his mates, and they reminded Carl of the dero who had touched him for some creds the first night he’d arrived back on Earth. The groups of under-educated, under-privileged naturals seemed to be growing day by day. Carl wondered how they survived.
As the autocab pulled up, all but one stepped back, leaving a small man with dirty, balding hair and several days’ beard growth standing alone. He had an old bag slung over his shoulder.
The autocab stopped, and Carl and Harringto
n got out. The small crowd of naturals drew back farther as Harrington stood to her full height. Carl had got used to her size, and though he was tall himself, he’d forgotten how imposing she was. In their current situation, among the kind of people present, it certainly came in handy.
The man with the bag looked up at Harrington. “I got it all. Everything you said.”
“Let me see,” said the security officer.
“All right.” He took the bag off his shoulder and opened it. He held it at waist level, so that Harrington had to stoop to see inside. As she did so, the deros who had stepped back moved forward. Drongos. They didn’t have the imagination to understand what the security officer would do to them if they attacked.
Carl also stepped forward, unzipping his jacket as he moved. He reached inside it and pulled out a weapon. Just the handle of it, enough to show the deros what he carried. At the sight of the weapon, they lowered their heads and shuffled back to their former position.
Harrington was inspecting the contents of the bag. She straightened up. “Got a reader?” she asked the man.
He pulled one from a capacious pocket. Harrington took the bag from the man and zipped it up. She held her wrist to the man’s reader and typed in a figure. Nothing else was said.
Carl and Harrington got into the cab and left. When the vehicle had left the underpass and was out on the freeway, Harrington turned to Carl.
“Can I see it?”
“What?”
“You know,” she said, gesturing toward him.
“Harrington,” Carl exclaimed, pretending to be shocked, “this isn’t the time.”
The security officer rolled her eyes, reached over and unzipped his jacket. She pulled out the weapon from its holster under his arm. “Thanks for helping me out back there. I thought you had to be showing them something when they all backed off.”