*****
A few minutes later, I was in the back of the SUV.
“Just wanted to let you know it’s done,” he said.
I nodded. “I heard. Thanks for keeping your word.”
“No thanks necessary,” Gray assured me. “On the other hand, I’m sure this won you major points with your girlfriend. You must really love her to use the freebie I offered to get her father out.”
I merely shrugged, but didn’t say anything. Obviously noting that I was out of sorts, Gray gave me a hard stare.
“Look,” he said after a few seconds, “don’t beat yourself up about what happened to Jack. It wasn’t your fault.”
I frowned for a moment, trying to figure out how we’d gotten on this subject, then understood. Gray had realized I was despondent, but misidentified the cause. He seemingly thought I was upset about Jack.
“Moreover,” Gray continued, “that was the only way it was going to end – with either him or you in the ground.”
Wrinkling my brow in curiosity, I asked, “Why do you say that?”
Gray sighed. “Remember when I said that clones always want to meet their originals? It’s actually more than that. The clones fixate on the originals, including every aspect of their lives. Eventually, they try to replace them.”
There was a faraway look in his eyes as he spoke, and emotionally I felt not just truth from him, but a profound sense of understanding.
“This isn’t just theoretical or abstract for you, is it?” I asked. “This is personal in some way.”
Gray didn’t immediately answer. Instead, he was silent for a few moments, as if wondering how much to share with me. Finally, he seemed to mentally flip a coin.
“I wasn’t lying when I said I was ready to quit this job,” he said. “I’ve wanted to retire for years. But as I explained, I couldn’t just walk away. Considering who was slated to succeed me, it would have been chaos. An absolute disaster. So I tried to think of another solution.”
“You had yourself cloned,” I stated. It wasn’t a question.
Gray didn’t deny it. “He was supposed to take over the job for me, and on paper it sounded great. A version of me who knew all the ins and outs of the covert world I live in, but who also wasn’t burned out and desperate to leave it all behind. He’d step in, and I’d slip away.”
“So what happened?”
“Apparently what my position offered – power, authority, and so on – wasn’t enough. My clone didn’t just want my job. He wanted my life. My friendships, my relationships, everything. And towards the end, he was willing to do anything to get it, even if it meant putting me in the ground.”
“I take it that didn’t happen.”
“Let’s just say somebody went in the ground,” he stated, giving me a knowing look. “I’ve been against cloning ever since.”
“Is it done, though?” I asked. “Is it over?”
Gray appeared perplexed. “With Jack gone, I would think so.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “The people who authorized Jack’s creation – will they produce another one?”
“I doubt it,” Gray replied. “Not when they learn what he was up to.”
Now it was my turn to look bewildered. “What do you mean?”
“Jack wasn’t just sitting on his laurels when he was out of your presence. He was out there doing stuff. We’ve got evidence that he impersonated a prince from an oil-rich kingdom in the Middle East, as well as a couple of third-world dictators.”
Gray’s words brought to mind Jack’s rooftop statement about having to do things on his own. Obviously, it hadn’t been idle talk.
“Believe it or not,” Gray went on, “you can do a fair amount of damage on the world stage in some of those positions – even if the nation you represent is underdeveloped and non-industrialized, and your tenure’s short-term. Thankfully, it’s been contained, but it’s pretty clear that he had much bigger plans.”
I didn’t comment. I was too busy thinking about the havoc Jack had wreaked on a local level to even contemplate what he’d done globally. There was a long line of people who’d been hurt by his machinations: Incendia, Gramps, Vestibule…
Oh, geez, I thought. Vestibule…
Chapter 97
It took me about twenty minutes to track Vestibule down. After she came to mind, I had quickly brought my meeting with Gray to a close and then teleported to the West Coast.
I tried calling her first, but my call went straight to voicemail. Reaching out to my cousin Avis, I discovered that Vestibule had taken a few days of personal leave from the A-List Supers. Avis provided a couple of other contacts – Vestibule’s friends and such – but no one seemed capable of pinpointing her location for me. (Not even her agent knew where she was at the moment.) Somewhat disheartened, I made a last roll of the dice and got lucky.
*****
I found her in the park she’d taken me to a few days earlier, sitting on the same bench, looking out over the lake. Teleporting here had been a bit of a gamble, but I recalled that this locale seemed to provide her with a sense of serenity. Moreover, it struck me as a place she might retreat to if she were still troubled by what had happened with Jack, and it turned out I was right.
I walked deliberately towards the bench and took a seat next to her. She didn’t say anything; the only acknowledgment of my presence had been a short glance in my direction as I’d approached.
The silence lasted a few minutes, although it didn’t seem as awkward or uncomfortable as one might imagine.
Finally, Vestibule let out a sigh and asked, “What are you doing here, Jim?”
“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” I said, hoping she knew that I was being sincere.
With almost everyone else who had crossed paths with Jack, there was a support system in place – people they could talk to about what had happened. For instance (and taking myself out of the equation), Smokey could always reach out to Li or Electra. Gramps, as another example, had the rest of our family to turn to. I didn’t know if Vestibule had anyone like that in her life. Even if she did, talking about what had happened with Jack would require that she reveal something painfully embarrassing (humiliating, in fact). Bearing all that in mind, I had felt the need to check up on her – to make sure she was okay.
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
Rather than simply take her word for it, I reached out empathically, trying to get a sense of her feelings. I picked up on the fact that the experience had rattled her to some extent, but at the same time I detected a surprising strength in her – an inner resolve which indicated that she would not only get past this incident, but any other obstacle life threw in her path. Noting this part of her personality, I was suitably impressed.
“Besides,” Vestibule went on, “what would your girlfriend think about you paying me a surprise visit?”
“I don’t know,” I answered. “If I had a girlfriend, I’d ask her.”
“Oh,” she muttered softly, looking chagrinned. “So you and Electra…”
I nodded, as she left the rest unsaid. “Yeah – we broke up.”
“I hope not because of me.”
I shrugged, not caring to verbalize a response.
Unexpectedly, Vestibule leaned towards me, a somber expression on her face. “Look, I didn’t really want to make trouble for you. I just find dating so hard. Most guys are intimidated by me – either my fame, or my wealth, or my powers. I’m a triple threat. And those who aren’t intimidated are just jerks. They want me to do all the work in the relationship. ‘Why do I have to drive when you can teleport?’ Or they think that because I’m rich and like them that I should be their personal ATM. I just wanted to go out one time with a guy who would actually act like a guy and treat me special. And after I heard about you taking Electra to Paris…”
I sat there silently as she trailed off. I now understood Vestibule a lot better than I had just a few days ago, and realized to a large extent I had probably mi
sjudged her. She didn’t really want anything more out of life (and in particular, relationships) than anyone else, but – like my cousin Avis – her status made it more difficult.
“And I know what a lightning rod is,” she announced abruptly, interrupting my thoughts.
“What?” I asked, a little befuddled.
“Back at the Alpha League last week,” Vestibule said, “I referred to Electra as a lightning rod. Your friend started to correct me, trying to point out that a lightning rod doesn’t actually create electricity. I just wanted to make it clear that I understand the distinction. I called her a lightning rod because it sounded good, but I know it’s not an accurate comparison. I’m not stupid.”
Caught by surprise by her narrative, I burst into laughter. There was clearly a lot more to Vestibule than I’d initially assumed. As if I needed more proof, she seemed to pick up on the fact that I wasn’t really laughing at her and smiled.
Still smiling, I stood up.
“Come on,” I said, holding out my hand to her. “I still owe you a date.”
She gave me a sly grin as she reached out and took my hand. “Don’t you mean an outing?”
We both laughed at that, and then I teleported us.
*****
I had a fantastic time with Vestibule, and ended up hanging out with her far longer than I’d intended. Thus, it was close to midnight when I left her on her doorstep and – after receiving a platonic kiss on the cheek – teleported home.
I popped up in my bedroom, with the intention of going straight to bed. Those plans were immediately put on hold, however, by the presence of someone in my room standing near the window.
Rune.
“I know it’s late,” he said. “And I didn’t want to disturb your family, so I’ve kept my presence hidden from them.”
I had trouble keeping a straight face. With three powerful telepaths in the house (not to mention Gramps being back in his prime), it would be difficult for someone to enter the embassy and remain unknown. That said, I didn’t doubt that it was within Rune’s power.
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “However, I assume this isn’t a social call.”
“Unfortunately, no,” Rune admitted. “Do you recall at the party that I said I might need your help?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“I’m afraid I’m going to have to take you up on that offer of assistance.”
“Okay,” I muttered, feeling unprepared but willing to do what I could. “Can you share any details?”
“It’s probably best if I do so on the way,” Rune noted. “And just to let you know, we might be gone a few days.”
“That’s fine,” I said. “When do we leave?”
Rune didn’t say anything, but the fact that he was in my home around midnight (as opposed to the next morning) spoke volumes.
“I see,” I added softly. I spent a moment reaching out telepathically to my family and Myshtal to tell them that something had come up. I received a bit of pushback (namely because the situation with Jack had only just wrapped up), but in the end they understood and wished me well.
I turned to Rune and said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
He smiled at me, snapped his fingers, and we vanished.
THE END
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Replication: A Kid Sensation Novel (Kid Sensation #6) Page 40