[Abby Kanem - SG 01.0] Suitcase Girl

by Ty Hutchinson

“You’re surmising that he ordered the hits then killed himself to close up the loose end?”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “I know, seems a little fantastical, but people like this are. Well, now that we know he killed himself—”

  “The question is whether it was by force or voluntarily.” Green removed the gloves and tossed them into a nearby trash bin.

  “Yes, but you already said that you found no signs to indicate he was under any physical duress.”

  “True, but the thing is… this is not a pleasant way to die. The pain he would have experienced in his chest is incomprehensible, akin to setting oneself on fire, if I had to put it in terms to grasp. This man had to have had a very good reason to want to die this way.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  After my meeting with Green, I made my way back to the office. Kang sat at his desk, staring at his computer.

  “Struggling to craft that perfect email response?” I asked as I approached.

  “Not everyone is a master zinger like you. How did it go?”

  “There’s been no shedding of the light.”

  “Huh?”

  “Come on.” I motioned for him to follow me. “Let’s head into Reilly’s office so I only have to tell this story once.”

  I knocked on the door to the boss’s office and poked my head inside. “Gotta minute?”

  Reilly closed a file folder and set it aside. “Yeah, come in, guys.”

  “Green finished the autopsy. It’s his opinion that the lawyer committed suicide.”

  “Is there a connection to our shooter?”

  “Nothing decisive, but there’s something about the suicide that gave me pause. Green believes Yu injected himself with potassium chloride. High concentrations of it can trigger a massive heart attack.”

  “Abby, I’m not getting the importance of this meeting. So Yu killed himself and there’s no connection to our shooter.” Reilly shrugged, acting annoyed.

  “I think Yu is connected and not just by the fact that he was Chow’s lawyer.”

  “So you think he’s the one who orchestrated this massacre and then committed suicide because he was sure all tracks would lead back to his doorstep?”

  Wow, someone’s sick of eating bran for breakfast.

  “Maybe, but that’s just it. I’m not sure what the connection is or what his role was, but representing Chow and his crew with no other clients to speak of and then suddenly committing suicide… well, it’s suspect.”

  Reilly looked over at Kang. “You seem awfully quiet.”

  “I think Abby’s got a point, and it’s worth looking into.”

  “Fine. Chase your hunch,” Reilly said as he gestured for us to leave his office.

  Kang buried his hands into his pants pockets as we headed back to our desks. “Is that all Green said?”

  “In a nutshell. Green mentioned if we could find the syringe Yu used to inject himself, he could examine it and possibly have more answers.”

  “CSI already combed the place. A needle wasn’t listed on the evidence report.”

  “Maybe they missed it.”

  We were in the middle of gathering our items when Reilly stuck his head out of his office and called us back in.

  Now what?

  When we returned to his office, Reilly was sitting behind his desk and standing next to him was a thin man wearing a white lab coat with a smile on his face.

  “Have a seat, guys. This is Agent Richard Vasquez.”

  “Wow, you really do look alike,” Vasquez commented. “I’m sorry, Agent Kane. We’ve never met in person, but I know you through email. Well, I’ve seen your name. Anyway, I heard about the connection with the little girl, but I didn’t expect it to be so… well, you must hear this from everyone—”

  “Agent Vasquez. Why don’t you get to the point,” Reilly pushed.

  “Yes, of course.” Vasquez chuckled nervously. “A little background. I’m the one who pulled the DNA from the suitcase and matched it to Chow’s.”

  “I appreciate that. It was helpful,” I said.

  Vasquez continued to smile. In fact he hadn’t stopped since we entered Reilly’s office.

  “Well, I also did something else with, um, with the girl’s DNA that wasn’t asked of me, but my mind has a way of wandering. Often it’s helpful because it can lead to new discoveries, which I just happened to have stumbled across.”

  “You identified Xiaolian?”

  “Who?”

  “That’s what we’re calling Suitcase Girl,” I clarified.

  “Oh, okay. Yeah makes sense. It’s a nicer name than the other. Okay, anyway… I, ah, sort of identified her.”

  “Define ‘sort of,’” I said as I crossed one leg over the other.

  “I’ll just come out and say it. I tested Xiaolian’s DNA with your DNA.”

  My mouth fell slack. “Why on earth would you do that?”

  “Like I said earlier, sometimes my mind wanders and I go off in directions that weren’t necessarily required. And we had your DNA samples on file. Anyway, I did the test.”

  “And...” The tone of my voice clearly displayed my irritation.

  “I probably should have told you before I did it, but—”

  “Agent Vazquez, are you about to imply that you discovered the girl and I are related? Because if that’s where this conversation is heading, then I’m sorry to burst your bubble.”

  “No, that’s just it. I’m not trying to say that the two of you are related. It’s more than that. She’s you.”

  Chapter Fifty-Five

  For the first time since I laid eyes on Vasquez, his nervous smile faltered and I realized he was dead serious about whatever nonsense he was talking about.

  “Like I said earlier, if you’re implying that Xiaolian is my daughter… well, you should know that I’m aware of what pregnancy is and what it looks like and I would have known if I had given birth to a child. I’m not one of those people who suddenly pops a kid out in a bathroom stall, thinking all along the bulging stomach was nothing more than bad gas.” I looked at Kang. “Tell me you’re not buying this load of bull.”

  He offered a half-hearted shrug.

  “Am I the only one who finds this claim preposterous?”

  “Agent Kane I realize what I’m saying may be hard to grasp, but if you allow me to explain, I can help you to understand.”

  I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m waiting.”

  “I’m not saying she’s your daughter. I’m saying she’s you.”

  He opened his laptop and set it on the desk in front of me. “You have an 80% DNA match with the girl. Only 50% is needed to match a child with a parent. Trust me, I redid the test over and over just to be sure.”

  “Abby, maybe you have a younger sister your parents didn’t tell you about,” Kang said.

  “I doubt it. I would know. I’m an only child.”

  “That’s not what I’m inferring either,” Vasquez said. “She’s not a sibling. I also found two other sources of DNA that don’t match yours.”

  “How can that be?”

  “It’s called three-parenting. It’s when the DNA of a third person is introduced into another egg.”

  Vasquez must have noticed my eye roll.

  “I’m serious, Agent Kane. This is a real procedure that exists, though what I’m seeing here is much more advanced than what’s been published thus far in scientific journals. It’s astonishing.”

  “Wait. Just so I’m clear. You’re saying my DNA was introduced into some stranger’s egg and then fertilized.”

  Vasquez nodded. “I’ll admit, this isn’t my field, but I’ve read about three-parenting. It’s been used successfully to change the DNA makeup of a child, mostly to edit out a disease if one parent has a history of it.”

  “Is this like the designer genes, where parents can pick the eye color of their children?” Kang asked.

  “It is, but it’s much more advanced. That’s just altering existing DNA. What we ha
ve here is entirely new DNA, in this case Agent Kane’s, replacing existing DNA. What we’re seeing here is light-years ahead. And from what I’ve learned so far, your DNA was tinkered with to be the dominant one. Really the other two served as hosts—a way to grow the embryo into a healthy baby.”

  “Are you talking about cloning?” Reilly asked.

  “No, it’s not cloning either. If it were, the DNA would be one-hundred-percent identical. What we have here, if I had to put it in other words, is more like counterfeiting. Someone created a pretty good replica of you.”

  “Why on earth would someone want to replicate me? Why would two people who want a baby use my DNA and make it the dominant one? It’s like the baby isn’t even representative of them. And secondly, is that really even possible?”

  “Like I said earlier, I’m not an expert on this work, but I don’t think whoever did this wanted to clone you because of the three-parenting. They just wanted a good replica. A way to take whatever traits they liked about you and put that into another person. And to answer your second question, it’s a lot easier than you think. All someone would need to do is scrub you.”

  “Scrub?”

  “Take blood, hair, and skin samples.”

  I could feel a headache creeping up the back of my head. I was flabbergasted by what Vasquez was saying.

  “So you’re saying someone stole my DNA?”

  “This girl is about eleven or twelve. Where were you eleven or twelve years ago?”

  “I was living in Hong Kong.”

  “Were you ever hospitalized during that time, or do you remember being in a position where someone could scrub these samples from you?”

  “Well, I was hospitalized once—pneumonia. You think someone took my DNA during that time?”

  “I do. It’s the only way this girl can exist as she is.”

  “I can’t believe I’m even continuing to have this conversation. What about you guys?” I looked at Kang and then at Reilly. “Are you guys buying this?”

  Silence on their end filled the room. Neither man had an answer, or at least weren’t willing to give one.

  Vasquez continued. “I’m sorry I don’t have all the answers. Ideally, we need to bring in an expert, but I would love to run more tests on the girl in the meantime. It’s my understanding she’s staying with you.”

  “I forgot to mention the hiccup to him,” Reilly said.

  “Mention what?”

  “Xiaolian is missing,” I said. “She was taken from my home.”

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Two days later, on Saturday, Xiaolian lay on the bed, staring at the popcorn ceiling. The television aired the newscast, but she wasn’t really paying attention, as the volume was always kept low or muted.

  She already knew the police had captured the man responsible for murdering all those people, and now it seemed like all they were focused on was why he did it. They were always showing his picture. The funny thing was the police had yet to identify the man.

  Of course, Xiaolian knew his name was Alonzo Chan thanks to Dr. Jian Lee, the man who had helped orchestrate her escape to the States and from Abby’s home.

  She was never told why she needed to escape from the facility she used to call home. All she was told was that it was important that she did. She never questioned—not when she was whisked out of her bed in the middle of the night, not when she was told to run through the woods, not when she was told to get into the trunk of a car and be quiet.

  For as long as she could remember, no one at the facility disobeyed the staff. To do so resulted in punishments ranging from the withholding of a meal to solitary confinement to physical exhaustion. And in the most severe cases, disappearing for good, never to be heard from again.

  However, there was one thing she did know for sure. Something she had come to remember. It had been made clear to her how important it was that she and Agent Abby Kane find each other. They were destined to meet, as Agent Kane was the answer.

  “How much longer must we stay here?” she asked without her eyes leaving the ceiling.

  “I’m not sure,” said Lee as he sat on the other bed, watching the newscast.

  “Why? They’ve caught the man. It’s safe to go back to Abby’s home.”

  “No it’s not.” He switched off the television.

  “I don’t understand why you keep information from me. I may be a child, but I don’t expect to be treated like one. Am I not the chosen one?”

  “You are, and that is why it is even more important that you remain safe. We can’t afford to lose you. There is no one at the moment who meets all the requirements to replace you. Trust me, if there were, you would not have been chosen for such an important task.”

  “You’re speaking your mind,” she said, finally turning her head in his direction. “We’re becoming comfortable with each other.”

  “And you’re becoming your old self again. That mouth of yours serves no positive purpose.”

  “Is that so? I think you just don’t like when I, or any of the others, question you, and yet you seem to forget that questioning is the very trait that makes us great.”

  Lee didn’t respond, but looked away from her instead.

  “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be angry with you. I know you’re here to help me.” She sat up, her legs dangling over the side of the bed. “What will happen to you when this is over?”

  “I’m not sure. My job was to ensure your safety. There were many unforeseeable events that took place. We’re lucky there were no setbacks, just delays.”

  “I understand. I have an important job to do.”

  “Do you truly?

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “Then you know the name they call you, Xiaolian, isn’t your real name?”

  She nodded.

  “Can you tell me what it really is?”

  “It’s Abby.”

  He nodded as he allowed his gaze to fall to the forest-green carpeting in the room. A worn path in front of the two beds lightened the color.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Everything. I’m beginning to think maybe this was all a big mistake.”

  “But they caught the bad man.”

  “They killed one of the two brothers. What you don’t understand is that Walter Chan, the other brother, is a dangerous man. He’ll keep coming for you until your name is crossed off his list or he’s killed.”

  “Can we tell the police about him? Maybe they can help.” Xiaolian’s gaze fell to her feet, where she watched them trace circles.

  “The only person who can stop him is the person who hired him, and that won’t ever happen unless… you return.”

  “Return?” Xiaolian looked up. “Why would we do that? We haven’t come all this way just to go back.”

  “We never anticipated something like this happening. We’re in over our heads. Everyone who has helped you get this far is either dead or in hiding, fearing for their lives.”

  “If we turn back now, then they’ve been sacrificed for nothing.”

  “We didn’t know they would send the Chan brothers. It was inconceivable. If we return, this all can end. Perhaps we can make peace and prevent more people from dying.”

  But, but, but. The words were in her head, but her mouth refused to utter them. She couldn’t believe he was contemplating returning. Surely that would only result in unfathomable punishment, the likes of which none had yet seen. Even she knew that was a dumb decision.

  “Don’t you want to do the right thing?” he asked.

  “We are doing the right thing,” she blurted.

  “Are you okay with more people being hurt?”

  “Why is this my decision anyway? I didn’t choose this.” A forceful breath passed through her pouty lips. Xiaolian couldn’t bring herself to look at Lee. She couldn’t believe after everything that had happened, he was suggesting they go back. What a weak man.

  A silence fell upon the room, building a wall between the two as they ret
reated into their thoughts. If it weren’t for the buzzing cell phone on the table, they might have not said another word for the remainder of the night.

  The rattling plastic case against the Formica tabletop jolted the man out of his thoughts. Lee crinkled his brow as he watched the phone hum for attention. He looked over at Xiaolian. “Did you use my phone?”

  She said nothing and lay back on the bed.

  “I asked you a question.”

  She lifted her head. “I wanted to see where we were on the map.”

  “Didn’t I tell you never to use it?”

  “I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not like I called someone.”

  “I always keep it powered off unless I need to use it. Want to know why? I’ll tell you. It prevents someone from tracking us through the phone’s GPS signal.”

  He reached for the phone and answered it.

  “Hello?”

  Xiaolian stole peeks at him.

  “Hello? Hello?”

  He quickly disconnected the call and then reached for the black duffle bag he kept near his bed and removed a handgun.

  “Why do you have a gun?”

  “We’re in trouble.”

  “Who was on the phone?”

  “I think he’s found us.” Lee walked over to the curtained window near the door and peeked outside.

  “Is he there?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, looking back at her. “It’s not safe here for you. You must leave, now.” He moved away from the window and toward her.

  She pointed and gasped, prompting him to turn around. The silhouette of a person, moving slowly, passed by the curtained window.

  “He’s here,” the doctor said in a whisper. He grabbed her arm. “Come on.” He led her to the bathroom. “Can you fit through that window?”

  Xiaolian looked at the square window. “I think so.”

  Lee pried it open and then helped her up onto the toilet.

  “But how will you fit?” she asked.

  “I won’t. You know where we are, right? Can you find your way back to Abby’s home?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”