by Trish Moran
Hugo looked calm although his flushed face betrayed his excitement.
‘A good start, but we need to monitor their progress further before we produce our team,’ Dr Gil said. ‘Our benefactor wants to know that we are certain they are as perfect as they can be before we start the enhancement procedures.’
‘They should have reached the Non-Lab equivalent of fourteen years in about ten months. That’s when we’ll know we are one hundred per cent successful.’
‘I’m pretty sure we are -’ Takir began.
‘We know we are,’ Hugo interrupted. ‘Dr Gil and the team have double-checked our investigations every step of the way.’
‘That’s true,’ Sanjit nodded, ‘but we’ll need hard results to convince our benefactor.’
‘And then we can get on with producing the perfect team!’ Hugo smiled widely.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
‘Hugo,’ Celia’s eyes widened as she looked at the screen,’ this is amazing! Adam, have you seen the work Hugo has done on bone reconstruction?’
Adam left his seat and stood behind him. ‘That is very impressive, Hugo! You’ve obviously been working hard on this. Have you shown this to Dr Schultz and his team yet?’
‘Well, if you think they’d be interested …’ Hugo began with a coy smile.
‘Of course they will be. How did you manage to advance the basic theory so far without actual trials on bone matter?’
Hugo thought of the new Zoo members at the Radical’s latest centre in Romania. He exchanged information by email and Skype at least once a week with Takir, who arranged the tests and forwarded him the results after each trial. ‘I put forward a few hypotheses and ran the probabilities of different bone matter reactions and based my results on that. These ideas were for males and females nearing the end of their maturity. How could this be adapted for those older or much younger? I’d be really interested in finding out what Dr Schultz and his team think about this.’
‘I’m going to get him to come over here one day next week. He’ll be so excited when he sees this.’ Celia patted Hugo’s shoulder. ‘You know if I ever have a son, I hope he’ll be like you!’
Hugo smiled broadly at her.
‘Well, I had better get going,’ she continued, glancing at her watch. ‘Just after seven. Are you ready for me to back up everything, Hugo, before I disable the computers?’
‘Yes, sure,’ Hugo answered, glancing around to make sure no one saw him download several files onto a memory stick and slip it into his pocket. ‘Well, I’ve got to have something to occupy me over the next ten months,’ he muttered.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Hugo felt a shiver of anticipation run down his spine as Angus set up the video call.
On the screen in front of him, Dr Gil and Gil Mark 2, were seated side by side behind a desk. Dr Gil glanced at a tablet in front of him. ‘Hi there, Hugo. I expect Takir has told you the good news about our benefactor accepting the findings of our investigations. He sent someone to meet the three secondary clones last week.’
‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘Takir said he was very impressed with the results and the plans we have for the elite team we’ll be creating.’
‘Yes, he was very impressed indeed and we received the go-ahead to begin the creation of that elite team as soon as possible. Do you have a copy of the plan I sent yesterday, Hugo?’
‘Yes, I have it here. You will need two vials of blood from each of the donors – the Hybrid male and the female Lab.’ He grinned. ‘That’s myself and Celia.’
Dr Gil smiled. ‘You made an excellent choice of donors to create our perfect clone team. Our benefactor was very pleased with the detailed research you put into this selection. And indeed, into the background news of both of your achievements. Of course, he’ll be even happier when he sees the actual team members themselves. Have you read and signed the clause he insisted on, that when the team are awakened they are not to know of their donors’ backgrounds. And you are not to make them aware of either of your identities?’
‘Yes, I fully understand,’ Hugo nodded and read out, ‘“The team are to grow up without any personal influence from their donors as this could be detrimental to their training to fulfil the roles allotted to them.” I’ll return the signed document as soon as we finish here.’
‘Have you perfected your plan to obtain the female blood sample?’ Dr Gil continued. ‘And ensured that she will not to have any idea of what is happening?’
Hugo nodded as Angus sat down beside him.
‘It’s all been arranged very carefully. We’ve double checked so nothing can go wrong,’ Angus said and went on to give them details.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
‘All set for Friday?’ Sanjit asked. ‘Have you checked through everything carefully?’
‘We’ve checked and double-checked,’ Takir told him as Hugo nodded.
‘Let’s just run through the plan once more,’ Liz joined in, ‘and make sure we’ve covered everything.’
‘Friday, at about quarter past seven,’ Takir read from a pad, ‘she’ll be leaving Adam’s house with Hugo, who’ll text me as they set off. Cora and Sanjit will be dropped off just off Field Way, near Greystone’s Farm, off the road and out of view. Angus will be stationed further down the road on his motorbike to warn us if anyone is approaching. Cora will detain them with a story of a breakdown to give us time to complete everything and get away from the area. We’ll text him as we leave.’
‘The samples will be cooled and stored immediately and I’ll take them straight to the airport. I’m flying out there at nine o’clock, so they will have them the same day,’ Sanjit added.
Meanwhile, at Adam’s house, Hugo glanced at the clock again.
‘Have you a special date tonight, Hugo?’ Celia quipped. ‘You have checked the time at least four times in the last hour.’
‘Well…’Hugo gave a shy grin, ‘something like that.’
‘I’ve almost finished here so we can leave a bit early if it’s alright with Adam,’ she continued.
‘Oh, no,’ he said hurriedly, ‘No, that’s fine. I’ve quite a bit to finish off here today.’
Celia smiled and waved to Adam and Ginny as she slid into the car. ‘Well, we’re off! What have you planned that’s so exciting, Hugo?’
‘Oh, nothing much. Games with a few friends, that’s all,’ he mumbled.
‘I’m glad to hear you’re doing something other than work, Hugo,’ she said. ‘Sometimes I think you’re overdoing it a bit and you knowé’
She stopped speaking as a woman appeared in the centre of the road.
‘Help! Please! You’ve got to help me!’ she cried. Her face and top were smeared with blood. ‘My car … it skidded off the road!’ She pointed towards a gateway almost concealed by an overgrown hedgerow, ‘My boyfriend’s still in the car. I can’t undo his seat belt!’
Celia sprang out and ran after her, pulling her phone from her pocket. ‘I’ll call an ambulance!’
A moment later she felt a hard blow to her head and she fell to the ground. Hugo was breathing heavily as he ran towards her. ‘You’re sure you haven’t hurt her too badly, have you?’ he asked Takir, who was rolling Celia’s sleeve up.
‘No,’ he replied shortly. ‘Give me the knife and syringe from that bag.’ Hugo passed them over and flinched as Takir made a sharp cut in Celia’s lower arm and inserted the syringe into it. He emptied the blood sample into a small vial which he handed to Sanjit. ‘You’d better get going. You know where to leave the car? They’ll take care of it.’ His brother nodded, putting the vial into a small medical bag which he placed in his pocket. A few minutes later, he drove off with Cora in Celia’s car.
Takir sliced through the strap of Celia’s handbag which she had around her shoulder and emptied it onto the ground. He picked out a few items then stood up to face Hugo. ‘You next.’ He roughly pulled out the contents of Hugo’s pockets, ripping his jacket in the process. ‘Have you the whole story straight?’
<
br /> Hugo nodded. ‘A female, probably early twenties, distracted us while a man of similar age came up behind us. He hit Celia and then me. I can describe her, but him not very well.’
Takir nodded. ‘Good. Are you ready?’ He raised his hand and brought it heavily down on Hugo’s head.
A short while later Angus appeared on a motorbike and Takir climbed on behind him, pulling a helmet on to cover his face.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
‘What happened?’ Ruby asked as Celia and Hugo were helped into the medical ward.
‘Hugo! Are you all right?’ his mother said, rushing forward and grabbing his hand.
‘It looks like a mugging and robbery,’ Abel said. ‘When Celia was over an hour late and not answering her mobile, Isaac called me. We phoned Adam but he said she and Hugo had left just after seven o’clock as usual. We followed the route Celia usually took to Adam’s house and found them on the ground near Greystone’s Farm.
Celia rubbed her head, ‘All I remember is a woman asking us to help her, their car had gone off the road. She said her boyfriend was still inside it. Then something hit my head and I don’t remember anything else until I woke up on the ground. There was no-one there and the car was gone, too.’
‘It was a man. I looked behind me and saw him, then he hit me, too. Next thing I knew, Celia was telling me to wake up,’ Hugo added.
‘Well, let the doctor take a look at you both before we go any further,’ Isaac said, with anxious eyes on Celia. ‘Let’s makes sure you’re both OK first.’
Yvonne nodded quickly. Ruby took her arm. ‘Come on, we’ll have a cup of tea while they take a look at them.’
Half an hour later the doctor joined them in the waiting room of the Medical Wing.
‘They’ve both made a short statement to the police officers. They’ll need to give full details tomorrow, but they need a good night’s sleep. We’re keeping them in overnight just for observation. Neither of them has any serious injury. Both have suffered a hard blow to the head and Celia has a cut, possibly from a knife to her forearm, but it’s nothing to worry about.’
‘Thank God they’re both OK,’ Yvonne whispered.
‘They must have been after the car,’ Abel said. ‘Probably small time criminals working to order. I suppose they took anything else of value while they were at it. The keycards, cashcards and phone have been disabled, so they’ll be of no use to anyone.’
The next morning Hugo smiled as his mother, Isaac and Zig came into the hospital room.
‘How are you, son?’ Yvonne asked him, an anxious look on her face.
‘I’m fine apart from a headache,’ he insisted.
‘What about you, Celia?’ Isaac asked her.
‘Pretty much the same, except I’ve a sore arm, too. They must have caught my arm when they cut the strap of my bag,’ she said, holding out her arm. ‘The nurse is going to put a clean dressing on it.’
He grimaced. ‘It looks sore.’
Zig peered at Celia’s arm. ‘You’ve a few bruises there, too. Did they have to inject right into the cut?’ The nurse arrived, holding the new dressing. ‘Neither of our patients has had any injections, just painkiller tablets.’
‘There’s definitely signs of a needle,’ Zig insisted.
‘I can’t see anything, but I don’t have your vision, Zig,’ Isaac said.
‘We’ll take a closer look,’ said the nurse.
Later that morning, the doctor sat with them all.
‘We did find evidence of a syringe being used.’ He raised a hand as Celia looked alarmed. ‘But there’s no evidence whatsoever that they injected anything into your blood. We’ve made extensive tests.’
‘So that means they were taking a blood sample,’ Isaac pursed his lips as the doctor nodded.
‘It would indicate that, yes.’
‘And what about Hugo? Have they taken a blood sample from him, too?’ Yvonne grasped her son’s hand. She gave a sigh of relief as the doctor shook his head. ‘There was a mark of a syringe on Hugo’s arm from an earlier blood test …’
‘But that was from a sample I took myself, for information for my own research,’ he added.
‘Why would they do this?’ Celia frowned.
Abel shook his head and repeated Celia’s words an hour later. ‘Who would want a blood sample from Celia? And why?’
‘Someone who wants to know more about Compound Labs, I suppose,’ Zig suggested.
‘And someone who didn’t want us to know that, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of staging a mugging,’ Isaac said.
‘Did you think it’s a bit odd that Hugo has a syringe mark, too?’ Zig asked.
‘Not at all,’ Celia shook her head. ‘Hugo has analysed blood samples from himself and a few others, too, over the last few months. But not me. I just hate needles.’
Zig looked thoughtful. She repeated her suspicions to Ness and Ginny the following day.
‘Hmm,’ Ginny nodded her head. ‘He’s a very secretive person. He turned really nasty when he thought I was trying to read one of his emails a few weeks ago. What if he was involved in the whole mugging set-up?’
‘Oh, that’s a bit far-fetched, Ginny,’ Ness smiled. ‘Mum said he had a bruise the size of an egg on his head when they brought him to the medical wing.’
‘It could have been part of the plot.’
‘What was the email about?’ Zig asked.
Ginny screwed up her eyes. ‘Something about rats, two of them, kept apart. And they did great things. And something about, NLs, Hs and Ls, I suppose that means Non-Labs, Hybrids and Labs.’
‘That doesn’t really sound sinister, does it?’ Ness commented. ‘Sounds like stuff to do with his research.’
‘So why was he so upset?’ Ginny asked.
‘In case you pinch his ideas and you have rats doing great things.’ her friend joked.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
‘I’m fine, Mum, stop fussing,’ said Hugo two days later as he got ready to go to Adam’s house. ‘I’ve already lost enough time.’
‘Adam said he’ll collect you and bring you home today,’ his mother continued.
Hugo sighed loudly. ‘Let’s just move on now, shall we?’
He sprang up as he heard Adam sound the car horn.
‘Isn’t Celia coming with us today?’ Hugo asked as he climbed into Adam’s car a few days later.
‘No, she’s having a break for a few days,’ Adam told him. ‘She’s only just getting back on her feet, you know.’
‘But she’s not ill, is she?’ he said curtly. ‘I mean, she wasn’t seriously harmed in any way, was she?’
‘Obviously the whole ordeal has affected her,’ Adam replied.
‘Well, I went through the same ordeal too and I’m OK,’ the teenager continued petulantly. ‘I would have expected her to be mentally capable of handling … different … situations. From what she has told us of life for the Labs earlier on, they were all resilient and adaptable.’
He noticed the look Adam gave him. ‘Sorry, I’m being selfish. I really wanted to talk to her about my project. I need some advice and Celia is always so helpful.’
’Well, you’ll have to manage with my advice, and we’ll have Leonard with us today. He’ll have some thoughts on the matter. Actually Dr Schultz suggested you use mice to try out your bone investigation. We’ll call by the Medical Centre and pick up a cage they’ll have ready.’
‘Mice?’ Hugo shook his head, ‘Why can’t we carry out some tests on some Non-Labs? There must be plenty of them with broken or problem bones.’
Adam gave a chuckle. ‘If only it were that simple, Hugo. Medical research is thwarted at every corner by Health and Safety regulations.’
He saw the look of frustration cross the boy’s face as he followed him to the car. Hugo stared stonily out of the window as Adam stowed the cage of mice in the boot and climbed into the car again. He started up the engine and they headed away from the Compound. After ten minutes Hugo frown
ed as Adam pulled into a lay-by on a remote country road.
‘I think you and I need a bit of a chat, young man,’ Adam said as the car came to a halt. He turned to face the boy. ‘I’d like you to give Angus a message from me next time you see him. No! Don’t deny it! I’ve been watching you. You know far too much. I’ve covered for you several times when I found out you’ve been copying data. You’re lucky Celia never caught you out. And now that latest stunt with Celia. I want to know more about it. So you tell Angus I’d like to meet up with him very soon. I’ve some ideas he – and his friends – will be interested in. He’s already seen some of it on the data you’ve handed over. They have to realise we’re on the same side, all heading for the same goal. It’s time we worked together. Make sure he gets this message, Hugo.’
Hugo looked him in the eye. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about …’
‘You know exactly what I’m talking about! I don’t know what the story is behind this so-called mugging, and I don’t want to cause any trouble for anyone, but you just make sure you pass on the message Hugo,’ Adam repeated quietly.
Without a word, he turned on the ignition and continued their journey.
Later the same day, Hugo sat nervously biting his fingernails as Takir paced the length of the room.
‘How could you be so lax, Hugo? Who else knows about you?’ Takir said angrily. ‘Why did I ever let myself be persuaded to trust a child?’
The boy bristled and took a deep breath. ‘I told you, he might just be bluffing. I denied everything. He has no proof of anything.’
‘You hope! But why hasn’t Adam gone to Abel yet? Has he mentioned any suspicions he has about the mugging?’ Takir scowled. ‘What does he want?’
‘I’m sure Adam isn’t like the other Compound Labs,’ Angus commented. ‘I think what he said to Hugo is true, he’s on our side.’
‘And if it’s a trap?’ Sanjit looked up.
‘I think we should meet him. We can decide what to do when we see him,’ Angus said.