Mimics of Rune 02- Surrender

by Aimee Laine

  Fury took hold of his insides while he tried to hide his seething expression.

  “If she’s figured something out and left you to get answers, then you have to let her find them. If she went because she wanted to, you have to let her go through the motions. She wasn’t taken by anyone—I know that for sure.”

  “How can you say that? You weren’t even here.”

  Maggie raised an eyebrow. “Because James has Kevin and his yappity-yap-ness. That man is all talk and no bite. Then there’s Matthew and Marlie, who’ve been locked in his suite having at it for the last hour. Roy’s on his own. It’s just him and Lily.”

  “She can’t—”

  “There you go again, assuming she’s some wimpy girl. Give her a chance, Cael.” Maggie walked to the door. “The only issue, and it’s not really a problem, necessarily, is that she doesn’t know what we just found out. And what we know now … well, Roy’s known all along.”

  Cael’s head snapped up. “What?”

  “His real motive.” Maggie waved the papers in a come with me gesture.

  Cael held out a hand, palm up as if to say ‘spill it already’, but didn’t budge from his spot.

  Maggie sighed. “He’s about to lose his status as a Mimic. Thirty-six hours from now, he’s done. He’s reached his quota. Two hundred and thirty-four years are almost over. If he wants to keep on living as the Roy he knows—”

  “He’s got to find a match and blend. And that’s Lily. Shit.” Cael rubbed at the creases in his forehead. “He told Lily he was her age. He told her he was there in the institution.” Cael slapped his head. “Shit, shit, shit! He was there, but not as a testee … he was a tester! Fuck!”

  “That’s what I think, and Lily is his saving grace.” Maggie slunk into the hallway. “Come with me, Cael. It’s time for the fun to start. Not only has Roy recorded his findings on Lily, he’s recorded his own. He’s spent two years making sure Lily was the right one to take. For himself.”

  “Which he did. By finding Leigh and backtracking.”

  “Right. But Cael, he can’t force her,” Maggie said.

  He won’t have to if he convinces her it’s for the good of someone else.

  • • •

  Lily shivered as she took a seat next to Roy. Where her room had a pre-made space for a baby, his had a full-sized office. On the monitor he swiveled toward her, a column of dots, lines, colors and numbers gave Lily an instant headache.

  Roy rapped the end of a pen against the screen. “This is the DNA of a human.” He tapped a key. “This is your human strand of DNA from when we were younger at the …” He circled his hand as if to say ‘you know where’ without saying it outright.

  The lines and dots, even the colors, altered to another dizzying array that meant nothing to Lily.

  “And this is yours now.” He clicked and a slide came down on top of the first, matching every line, shape and color. “Here is your Mimic strand.” His fingers tapped against the keys yet again, and the image on the screen split in half. “Now, if we put your Mimic strand against Leigh’s Mimic strand—left is you, right is Leigh—you can see it’s exactly the same.”

  Lily studied the detail as much as she could with his fast changes, but none of it meant anything to her. “What … does one of these look like that’s … not … like mine.”

  Roy clicked again and brought up yet another panel. He shifted so the one marked LC and one marked LG showed in parallel. With the butt of the pen, he tapped on the screen. “Yours on the left. Luke—that little boy who was in the lab—on the right.”

  Lily closed her eyes and imagined the little boy with the doctor she’d seen earlier that day. Has his mother left him, too? Or is she still searching? Did Angela sign Leigh’s papers?

  “His line isn’t strong, see? Almost non-existent. I’m guessing he has next to no abilities looking at this.” Roy indicated missing spots and faded areas.

  “What’s this supposed to prove, Roy?”

  He drew in a deep breath and blew it out as he pursed his lips. His fingers went back to the keyboard until another set of lines and dots popped on screen. “Here is my genetic puzzle.” A few clicks put his and Lily’s together. “Like yours, I’m in the original line for males.”

  The two structures looked reversed, if Lily had to guess.

  “This is scientific confirmation of who we are, Lily. You. Leigh. Same genetic markers. You, me, opposite by gender.” More keyboard clicks and yet another image appeared. “This is the only other set of DNA we—they had that was thought to be in your line.”

  To Lily, hers, Leigh’s and the latest looked exactly the same. “Who is this last one?”

  “Your grandmother.”

  Her heart squeezed in on itself. Lily drew in a sharp breath and coughed into her hand.

  Roy moved to the fridge in his office and pulled out a water bottle. He handed it to her still capped. “Are you okay?”

  She took a drink, letting the cool liquid coat her throat. “My … grandmother?”

  “Yes.”

  Her entire body shook.

  “Do you … want to know more?”

  No. “Yes.”

  “She brought a young baby—you—and a young teenager to the institution. Samples were taken from all three—but only you stayed behind and transferred to the Romanian system first. I didn’t know what happened to the other two until I started looking again.”

  Her own Grandmother had been a Mimic and had given her up. Lily forced herself not to cry, not even to tear up despite the tingling numbness creeping through her body. “How do you know this? I thought we met when I was thirteen. You said—”

  “I did the research, remember?”

  The hesitation in his commentary had her tilting her head. Does that mean something? Here’s where Cael would be able to guess. No, no. I can do this.

  “I’ve spent the last four decades trying to fight back by digging into every bit of detail I could find,” Roy continued. “I went through every record, linked as many people as I could. It took a really long time to put it all together. And a little bit of luck. With the latest DNA technology, I was able to play a matching game. I made it as far back and forward as I could until I found Angela searching for Leigh.” Roy’s tone softened. “Your mother wouldn’t have known what to do with a Mimic child at thirteen because she wasn’t one, and your Grandmother, well, she had been. She probably only did what she thought was in your best interest.”

  “My best interest? Are you insane? You were there! How can you say ‘best interest’ when you know—” Fury took over the previous pain and wonder. “Didn’t they do this stuff to you, too? Didn’t you go through all the pain and torture, too?”

  Roy held up his palms. “Of course, of course, Lily. I was there with you. Girl original line. Boy original line. That’s why they tested us.”

  Girl. Boy. Girl. Boy. All from the original people. Why does that sound so much more important than it probably is? Lily shook her head.

  A sigh escaped Roy. “That time in our lives was traumatic. But listen, we can fix this. Maybe not for ourselves, but for the future.”

  “How, Roy? Seriously? DNA? You have that already. You don’t need me anymore. You could run off and get it done already. Why haven’t you, in fact?”

  His lips pursed. “Because it’s really more than DNA. I wasn’t fully honest with you because I thought that might scare you off from helping me—helping us stop what’s going on.”

  “What are you talking about?” Though she could guess, thanks to Maggie.

  “They want a child of mixed DNA.”

  Finally got something right before the announcement.

  “Yours and mine. If we were to make that happen … if we were to create the child. You and I.” Roy held up his hands. “We could control everything that’s going on. All of it. And keep all these government factions out. That’ll get them off Leigh’s back. That’ll keep you and me off their radar, because with a child in the mix, the
y can’t mess with our parental rights. They’ll be stuck with no recourse. No more testing. Nothing we can’t control.”

  Lily’s stomach clenched. The idea they’d be less tested, instead of more, went against everything she’d learned as part of the program so long ago. The government didn’t stop when it had the information in hand, it pursued with vigor. If the two lines merged, they’d vie for ownership, not relinquish rights.

  Roy’s logic didn’t work.

  Maggie had said not to believe anything he said.

  Keep going, Lily. There’s more here.

  • • •

  Cael and Maggie entered Kevin’s suite, an exact match of Lily and Matthew’s spaces, where a tied up Kevin, with duct tape over his mouth, sat beneath James’s towering form. Unlike the last time Cael had seen the man, the latest version had him wide awake and struggling against his bonds.

  As soon as the door closed, and the privacy engaged, James ripped the tape off.

  “What the fuck are you all doing? Let me go!” Kevin’s yell wouldn’t be heard by anyone.

  “He’s been at this for a while,” James said with complete nonchalance.

  Maggie sauntered up to Kevin. “Now that we have your attention, we’ll ask all the questions.” She thumped him on the top of his head with her paperwork and leaned down until eye to eye with him. “Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, Kevin.” Maggie rocked from foot to foot. “Let’s see now. How about you recap your relationship with Roy for us, shall we?”

  “I’m not—”

  “Oh, Kevin. But that’s not how this game is played. You see, we’re going to have a little fun if you don’t just spill those beans.”

  Cael imagined Maggie gave him a wide smile.

  “Go to hell.”

  James yanked Kevin back by his forehead. “You really don’t want to talk to a lady like that.”

  Maggie lifted her foot and stuck it on the seat in the middle of Kevin’s crotch.

  A seethe broke through his teeth.

  “Now, Kevin,” Maggie said. “Roy’s your partner, yes?”

  “Go—”

  Maggie made an adjustment to her posture.

  Kevin sucked in air. “To—”

  Another hip sway had Kevin tipping back in his chair beneath the force of Maggie’s foot. “Partners?”

  “No.”

  “Ah, now we’re talking.” She kept her foot in place.

  “Roy’s the …” Kevin inhaled through his teeth. “… boss. He—”

  “This is too easy, Maggie,” James said. “He’s giving it up too fast. I think he’s lying.”

  “I’ve got my foot on his crotch. Pressure’s on.”

  “Amp it up a little. Break something.” James gave her a nod, keeping Kevin’s neck bent backward.

  James and Maggie could be very convincing when they worked together. At the same time, Cael hoped they’d push it a little so he could go find Lily and get out.

  Maggie jumped on one foot.

  Kevin cried out.

  “Where’s Roy?” Cael said.

  “Don’t … know.”

  Maggie pulled back her leg and replaced it with a thump.

  The screech from Kevin suggested she’d hit the right spot. “I don’t … know. Lab … probably.” His chest heaved with each word. “A million’s not worth … this … shit for a second time.”

  “Let’s set him down and have a nice, professional conversation.” Maggie removed her foot as James released Kevin’s head. “Now … you’ve been interestingly absent for the last day, Kevin. Why’s that?”

  “Roy calls the shots. When he wants me around, he calls me. When he doesn’t, he tells me to keep a low profile.”

  “So the show when Lily arrived yesterday?”

  “Just that. A show.” Kevin stretched his neck left and right. “He’s a man with a plan. Has had it for ages, years, I think. I’m just his assistant. That’s it. I never did anything he didn’t ask me to do, and usually that meant being in one place while he was in another.”

  “An alibi.” Cael took a spot on the couch, leaving Kevin in the center with James and Maggie around him. No wonder Roy is always one step ahead, and no one knows how.

  “What’s this facility all about?” Maggie asked.

  “What the fuck do I know? I was told to be here. I was told to make it look like Roy was being taken. I was told to remind Matthew what he’d lose if he so much as breathed a word about Roy’s shit. I was told to stay in my room unless otherwise called.” He shrugged within the bonds around him. “It’s what I do.”

  Cael leaned forward. “You’re a lackey and nothing more?”

  James snorted a laugh. “What were you doing in Montreal a month ago?”

  Kevin’s head bobbled. “Same as always. Roy’s been on this fucking mission to find this girl for god knows how long. I’ve worked for him for three hundred and sixty-three days. He gets someone new on his birthday every year. I’m supposed to be free Thursday if I can keep the girl here and keep Matt out of Roy’s hair. Shit, this is not worth it. First Montreal and now here? Fuck this.”

  So Roy was the reason behind the gig in Montreal and probably behind the child trafficking Wyatt had been following. Looking for Lily? Someone else? Leigh? How would he have known?

  “Who were the other people with you in Montreal?” Cael asked.

  “Mark Tartington and Jagger Delamar.”

  Cael knew Mark Tartington had been Stuart’s cover name. “What was Jagger’s role?”

  “I don’t know. He showed up sometimes when Roy left me to do something on my own. Like he didn’t trust me to get it done. I don’t think he trusts anyone.”

  “Every time?” James asked.

  Kevin rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe. Yes.”

  Cael looked to James and to Maggie. In his mind, he formulated the same assumption they did. Jagger had been Roy’s cover for himself. Had to have been.

  “What does Roy want with the girl?” Maggie asked.

  “What the hell do I know—” Maggie backhanded the left side of Kevin’s turned away face. His lip broke, spurting blood at the edge. “Shit! What was that for?”

  “For lying. Three hundred and sixty-three days is a long time, and you’ve heard stuff. Now tell us what that stuff is,” she said. “Otherwise, I’m going to put a pair of high heels on, and we’ll take another pass at the lower extremities.”

  Kevin squeezed his legs shut. “I hear stuff, but I don’t always get the details.”

  “Give us the basics, and we’ll make sure you get a flight out of here.”

  Even as Maggie said it, Cael thought about throttling her. He’d give Kevin no such service.

  “Yeah, right,” Kevin said.

  Cael chuckled. At least they agreed on something.

  “All’s I’ve gathered is Roy thinks this girl, this one girl, is going to save him somehow. He keeps talking all this DNA shit and wanting another chance at life. If he’s sick, he hasn’t acted like it or said. I’ve heard the words cloning, another two hundred years …”

  Cael tapped his knee. Could Roy be trying to clone himself? How would that even help?

  “… but until a few weeks ago, I thought it was all bullshit, and then he finds this woman and flies her down here … to this insane asylum.”

  “What about Matthew? What’s he got to do with it?” James asked.

  Maggie marched into the kitchen, placed a few bottles of water on the island counter and returned with them. She handed one to Cael and James, opened another that she set to her side.

  Kevin offered them another shrug. “He owns this facility. Roy’s got something on him about money. Money. Yeah, money. That’s about how he gets anything done.” A trickle of blood dripped down Kevin’s chin. “He digs deep, or has me dig deep to find what he needs to make a move. That new girl? The one he just brought here? He smiled a mile wide the whole time after she arrived. Thought he had it figured out with that kid, but she turned out not to be some sort of
match for him. I don’t know, blood type, or something. So then he finds the other chick and tada! Three days before I can retire, I’m down here in the Bahamas stuck inside.”

  Maggie leaned toward Kevin’s face. “You’ve been most helpful.” She lifted the water to his lips. “Here’s a treat for being such a good boy.”

  Kevin drank, though much of the water dribbled down his chin. “What are you going to do with me?”

  A coy smile broke on Maggie’s face. “Nothing. You’ll be free to go in about ten minutes.”

  Two minutes later, Kevin’s head drooped to his chest.

  “Well that was faster than expected,” Cael said.

  “Gave him a little extra kick,” Maggie said. “You thinkin’ what I’m thinking?”

  Cael looked to James. James to Cael. They both switched to Maggie.

  “Geez, boys. C’mon. Roy’s been talking DNA. We know he was there ages ago. He’s on his last chance, but unlike Charley, he’s got no one to blend with. What would you do if that were you?”

  As if a light switch flipped, Cael said, “I’d have been searching for a way to get my Mimic abilities back after I became a permanent human.”

  “And he’s probably been searching forever. He knows who the important ones are. He’s been around as long as Charley, so he knows a lot, if not more than she ever did.” James nodded as if the answers had become clear to him. “Find the most powerful line of Mimics and get the DNA. But Lily’s—”

  “Flawed,” Cael said. “He’d have known that, right? If he’d been there testing her? So what’s the next step?”

  “Like I said before. A bit of a mixed drink. You know how humans use cord blood and stem cells to heal themselves? Maybe that’s what he needs. A baby’s goodies to reignite himself?” Maggie took a swig of her bottle of water. “If he hasn’t yet figured out Lily’s got problems on the baby front, he’s going to be very unpleasantly surprised.”

  A pang hit Cael’s heart at the mention of Lily’s fertility. “He’s going to blend with her so he keeps his memories, and then he’ll wait for the baby to be born and take from it.” Cael stood and launched himself toward the door. “If it works, he’s got another two hundred plus years.”