by Brian Parker
He eased the door open a crack. My goggles washed out in the sudden flare of light. I flipped them off and lifted them away from my face. A familiar aroma of antiseptic drifted in from beyond the door to tickle my nostrils.
“There’s a camera in the hallway outside,” Paladin stated, closing the door and once more plunging us into darkness. “Can you watch the door? I want to see if there’s a camera here in the storeroom.”
“Yeah. Hurry up, though.”
I flipped my goggles back down. Once again, green light bathed the room.
Paladin moved out of my line of sight along the wall. I turned back to the door, taking a few steps back to give myself some distance.
Small scratching noises filled the space, followed by four small clicks. I didn’t know what he was doing, but I imagined the clicks were wire cutters as he hacked into the security system again.
He reappeared quickly. “Alright, we’re good. They had an almost obsolete hardwired security system. I followed their camera feeds around the building. There’s a guard watching a holo-program near the front door. His back is to us. There’s another on the second floor overlooking the cages on the far side of a stage. He’s facing the doorway, so we’ll have to be careful.”
“Are the clones here?”
“Yes. I couldn’t tell how many exactly, because they’re huddled together for warmth. At least ten or fifteen.”
There’s a big difference between ten and fifteen, I thought. Instead, I chose to be grateful that we weren’t bumbling around totally blind. “Thanks, that’s a big help.”
“I also turned off the alarm system and looped their video. Simple tricks that have been around forever.”
“Alright, good job. You ready?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.”
We ducked through the door and the smell of antiseptic hit me once again. Paladin rushed forward down the hallway, he had the advantage of seeing the layout through the cameras that I didn’t have. I tried to reach out to stop him, but he’d used the transition time that I needed between night vision and unassisted sight to separate us by a good thirty feet. What the fuck was he doing?
Two jagged blades shot out of Paladin’s armor along his arm. I didn’t have time to shout out a warning or stop him before he plunged both of them into the base of the guard’s neck. He twisted his wrist savagely, severing the spine. The head flopped to the side, barely held on by the skin on either side of the blades.
I dashed forward and jammed my pistol into the joint between the Paladin’s body armor and helmet.
“Don’t move or I’ll spread your brains across this fucking desk.”
He raised his hands slowly, the guard’s blood dripping down the twin blades.
“What are you doing, Detective?”
“What the fuck was that? You murdered that guy.”
“He’s one of the bad guys. We’re the good guys. It’s up to us to do whatever we can to stop them.”
If there’d been any doubt about his mental state before this incident, it was gone now. He was a certifiable lunatic.
“We could have subdued him.”
“And let him trigger an alarm? I don’t think so. If you want to rescue those clones, we’ve got to be just as ruthless as these people.”
I pulled the pistol away. “We rescue them and then we’re done. You hear me?”
“That’s what we came here to do, isn’t it?”
“No, you stupid motherfucker,” I shot back. “We’ll get the clones out of here and then it’s up to you to figure out how to get back to New Orleans.”
“How?”
“Not my problem. I’m still a cop, asshole, and that was murder. I’ll add another one to your list of crimes.”
He didn’t respond, so I gestured toward the stairs. A sign beside them indicated that they were the way to the theater. “Stay in front of me. I don’t want you behind me.”
“I’m not going to do anything to you.” I couldn’t believe how hurt his synthesized voice sounded, making me question how old he was once again.
“I didn’t think you were going to try to cut off the guard’s head without any idea if he was going to put up resistance,” I retorted. “Stay in front of me.”
“I’m wired into the building’s network. I can cut the power once we’re ready to go in. The guard will be blind.”
“I like it. Do that.”
I settled the NVGs over my eyes when we reached the top of the stairs. The Paladin counted down from three and then everything went dark.
For a few seconds, then red emergency lights came on and the security alarm began to blare.
“What the hell!” I shouted, pushing past my erstwhile partner. “Can you turn that off?”
“I’m trying. It’s hardwired, like everything else in this place. It must have tripped when the power went out.”
I shoved the door to the theater open and dove inside. My shoulder hit the rigid metal seat frame that held a plastic stadium seat. Why couldn’t I hit that?
Below me, people were shouting in alarm from somewhere near the stage while others yelled for help. The clones in the cages were still alive for now, and I intended to keep it that way.
Three shots rang out in quick succession from below. I had no idea where the rounds went, so I crawled along on my belly behind the row of seats until I came to a break in the aisle.
“Mike!” the other guard shouted over the screams of men and women in the cages. “Mike, what’s going on?”
Mike must have been the guard at the front desk.
“Mike’s dead!” Paladin shouted from far to the left. I didn’t know if he’d already worked his way around while I crawled slowly like the old fucker that I was or if he’d ducked back down the stairs to the lobby and come in a different way.
More gunfire answered him and I peeked down the aisle. The second guard crouched behind one of the cages. Any shots I took at him would probably have a better chance of killing the clones inside than hitting him.
The alarm was sure to bring the local cops or more of the facility’s guards. We needed to end this quickly.
The Paladin stood and fired a smoke canister toward the stage. Several wild rounds answered the surprise move and the gunman shifted out of the smoke behind another set of clones, further obscuring him from the Paladin, but giving me a clean shot.
I lined up the Sig Sauer, aiming a little higher than I usually liked to in order to account for the drop of the bullet across the full length of the theater. And then I thought better of it. There was too much of a potential to miss—and the casings would tie me to being here. The Aegis’ weak yellow power light stared back at me as I sighted in on the guard. I didn’t need to adjust my aim point at all with the laser. I took a deep breath, exhaled and paused. Then I eased the trigger back.
There wasn’t a visible light, no sound and no recoil from the Aegis to indicate that I’d fired the weapon. The only way I knew was the neat, cauterized hole in the side of the guard’s head. He continued to crouch on the balls of his feet for a moment and then fell forward.
“He’s down!” I shouted. “I need the lights back on and turn off that goddamned alarm!”
“Working on it,” Paladin replied.
The lights came on and I took the steps two at a time until I stood on stage. There were five cages, all built of pencil-thick metal rods welded in a crosshatch. Each one had a lock on it. I didn’t have time to waste.
“Where’s the key?” I said loud enough for all of the clones to hear me.
“In his pocket,” someone responded.
I dug through the guard’s pocket. It was already wet where he’d pissed himself after death. Finally, my fingers wrapped around a set of keys and a rectangular object that turned out to be the key for the box truck out front.
This just might work.
“Everyone, calm down!” I said, patting my hands in the air like a football player trying to quieten the crowd.
It took a few seconds, but
eventually the voices faded to a low murmur.
“My name is Detective Zach Forrest from the New Orleans Police Department. I need everyone to listen.”
I paused for what seemed like the appropriate amount of time. Silence filled the theater as the Paladin got the alarms turned off.
“I’m here to rescue you, but I’m on my own—well, that guy in the black armor is with me too. We are not safe, we need to evacuate this building and get away before your captors come back.”
“We’re not safe?” a female’s voice repeated my statement.
“No, we’re not,” I answered. “I’m going to let you out. When I do, I need everyone to follow me to the white box truck in the parking lot. You’ll have to get in the back and we’ll get out of here.”
I began unlocking cages and continued talking. “I know you’re all naked. I can see that, but we don’t have time to try and find clothes. You’ve got to ignore it for a while longer and trust me. Any questions?”
“Where’s your backup?”
“We’re on our own,” I replied as I unlocked the last cage.
“Come on, let’s go!”
I ran up the stairs, not bothering to see if everyone followed. They could do what I told them or they could get left behind, it was that simple.
The truck was empty when we got there and people filed past me. I had to help a few of the older ones up into the cargo area, which was odd if they were clones. They should have been free of any ailments. I was already beginning to suspect that this was a crop of humans, not clones, and they’d already been replaced.
I grabbed one of them out of line and led her to the cab of the truck.
“I’ll need you to open the back when you get to the medical center,” I told her and then jogged back to the truck’s open cargo door.
The Paladin walked out of the building slowly, which I took to mean everyone who was going to come out was already in the inside the truck’s cargo area.
“When you get to the medical center, Dr. Grubber will meet you and do some bloodwork on you,” I told the attentive crowd. “I’m sorry I can’t tell you more right now, but I’ll link up with you as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
I didn’t wait for an answer before I jumped up and grabbed the nylon strap affixed to the bottom of the door. I pulled hard and it slid down, latching the door firmly as the people inside began to scream once more.
I dashed up to the cab and threw open the door as I tossed the keys inside. I crowded the woman out of the way, typing the address for Dr. Grubber’s lab. Once the system recognized the location, I accepted the GPS coordinates and closed the door.
The truck rumbled off in the direction of the parking lot exit and I began running in the opposite direction toward the alley where I’d parked the Jeep.
The Paladin labored to keep up with my adrenaline-fueled sprint.
My foot crossed into the shadows of the alley and the sound of squealing tires echoed across the neighborhood as several cars full of replacements arrived at the theater.
I slid to a halt by my Jeep and jumped in.
“What about me?” the Paladin screeched.
I started the engine. “I told you that we were done, man. You need to find your own way back.”
He slapped an open palm on the hood of my Jeep in frustration. “I can’t get back to New Orleans.”
“Not my problem. We accomplished our mission, but you’re a fucking psychopath.”
“Dammit, Detective. I—” He stopped, obviously realizing his situation wasn’t going to improve.
“Can I borrow cab fare?” he asked dejectedly.
I dug into the center console and pulled out three crumpled twenty-dollar bills that hadn’t found their way into Cassadie’s G-string at Whispers the other day.
“Good luck,” I said, dropping the bills out the window and shifting the Jeep into drive.
“Fuck you,” he answered and scooped up the money before jogging toward the mouth of the alley.
I eased the Jeep past him and then into traffic just in time to see two ambulances, a fire truck and three black and whites roaring toward the theater in my rearview mirror.
TWENTY-TWO: SUNDAY
“Oh my God, Zach!” Teagan shouted when I returned that evening, throwing herself into my arms. “Have you seen the news vids?”
“No. What happened?” With the car’s navigation and autodrive disabled, I hadn’t been able to watch any news vids while I drove, so I was clueless as to what she was referring to.
“Undoctored video feeds from the security cameras in Easytown were released. They showed that you didn’t kill that cop. You’ve been cleared of all charges against you!”
“That’s great news,” I replied, hugging her tightly.
“There’s more,” Teagan said excitedly.
“What else?” I hoped the mayor was somehow implicated in the killing, but there hadn’t been anything linking him to the incident in the video the Paladin showed me.
“I’m dead,” Sadie replied morbidly from the kitchen.
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah, the news reported that Sadie, the clone who spoke out about the torture tourism and accused several politicians of being involved, was found dead in an alley this morning,” Sadie stated. “They killed my clone in a further effort to discredit me. Now that we know I’m actually Kelsey and not a clone, if I go back to the news and say I was confused, it will bring into question everything about my memories and accusations.”
“Shit,” I cursed, relaxing my grip on Teagan’s waist. “They’re one step ahead of us—again.”
“Did you find any of the missing clones out in Slidell?” Teagan asked.
“All of them,” I beamed.
“What?”
“I found the remaining twenty-two people. We rescued them and then went out to see that geneticist. Care to venture a guess about what we found?”
“That none of them have the chemical dependency of a clone?” Sadie asked.
“Bingo—well, except one, she really was a clone.” I sat down on the edge of the recliner. “It means that they are the original people, not clones, and this is now a massive kidnapping case. None of them can remember anything about who they are, much like you, and all of them have had their fingerprints melted away, just like you.
“Dr. Grubber is working to identify them based on their DNA,” I continued. “If I’m really back on the police force, I can give him access to the police DNA database and we’ll know pretty quickly who they are.”
“What do you mean if you’re back on the force?” Teagan asked.
“I don’t think Councilman Jefferson and Mayor Cantrell are going to roll over that easily. Just because I’m not charged with Karen Goldman’s murder doesn’t mean that I’ve got my badge back or that they’re not plotting something else against me.”
“That’s bullshit.”
“It is what it is,” I replied, meaning I couldn’t change the reality of the situation.
“So what’s next then?” Sadie asked.
“I need to call Tommy Voodoo and let him know that I found all twenty-two of his missing specimens. Then I want to take a long, hot shower followed by some food—maybe some Mexican delivery.”
“How can you think of eating at a time like this?”
“We’re still in the middle of the ball game. If I don’t recharge the batteries and replenish my energy, I won’t make it to the fourth quarter.”
“I’m ready to go do something, help out somehow,” Sadie replied.
“They’ve already murdered your clone,” Teagan reminded her. “If you showed up on the scene, there’s not much stopping them from going after you too.”
“Teagan’s right. We’ve come too far to get antsy when we’re nearing the end.”
“I know. I’m just ready. I can feel myself beginning to slip away.”
“Do you want me to put you in contact with Dr. Jones? She can talk to you over the throwaway phone as long as you p
romise not to tell her where we are.”
“I think I’d like that.”
“We can set it up tomorrow morning. I’m sure she’d be interested to talk to you and hear what you’ve been doing while the rest of the world thinks you’re dead.”
I stood up and fished the phone out of my pocket. “I’m going to call Voodoo right now and see what he has to say about all of these ‘clones’ turning out to be humans.”
Teagan’s balcony was small, but secluded and sufficiently sheltered from the rain. I stepped outside and closed the door to gain a small bit of privacy, then dialed the number to the shipping company.
“Marie Leveau Shipping Company,” Betty answered on the first ring.
“Good evening, Betty. It’s Jack Arnold. Is Mr. Ladeaux available to speak?” I was positive that they’d be listening in on all of Tommy Voodoo’s lines since Brubaker knew I was working with him on the clone case. It was better to keep the ruse going.
“Mr. Ladeaux does not know anyone named Jack Arnold and is not in the habit of entertaining opportunistic phone calls.”
“Is Anastasia there, Betty? She’ll remember who I am.”
“Yes, she is here. Do you wish to speak to her, Mr. Arnold?”
“Please,” I replied.
The phone line clicked over as the droid put me on hold, then it activated once more. “Mr. Arnold. Nice to hear from you again,” Anastasia replied.
“Likewise. So I finished my end of that deal that Mr. Ladeaux and I worked up. I found all of his missing product. They were all intact, too.”
“You found all twenty-two of them?”
“Yes—and they’re all alive. Can I talk to Ladeaux?”
“Of course!” The excitement in her voice was evident. “I’ll transfer you now. Thank you, Detective Forrest! You’re amazing!”
So much for the alias. I wondered if she’d still think I was as good when she discovered that I hadn’t rescued any of her clone brothers and sisters. Instead, those clones were probably in the community, living as the people they were modeled after. It probably wouldn’t go well for clone rights when that little fact came to light. In fact, it would probably set efforts back by several years.