The Clone Paradox (The Ark Project, Book I)

by J. W. Elliot

  “No,” Kaiden said.

  Her eyes widened, and a single tear slipped from her eye.

  “I won’t send anyone else. It has to be me,” he said.

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m the leader and because Noah has stolen everything from me, even my own identity and sense of self-worth.”

  Willow stared at him, working her jaw. “All right,” she said, “if you must, but where are you going to look for him?”

  “The central command center, like Oakley said.”

  “He won’t be there,” she said. “It’s too obvious, and you said yourself that he was only on a screen.”

  “Then, where?”

  Willow didn’t answer immediately because one of Oakley’s men clomped down the aisle in front of them.

  She leaned close to whisper to Kaiden. Her hair brushed his cheek. “You should look in the section where Noah caught you snooping around,” Willow said. Her lips had a gentle curve to them, and they were moist and alluring in the pale light that filtered through the cargo bay. He felt suddenly guilty. How could he be drawn to two women at the same time? Was he no better than Greyson and his womanizing?

  “What?” He dragged his gaze away from Willow’s lips. His mind had wandered.

  “The section called Atra-Hasis,” she said.

  Kaiden cocked his head in suspicion. “Why?”

  “Because.” Willow said this like it should be the most obvious thing in the world. “Noah stopped you from snooping around there, didn’t he? He let you wander all over until you got too close.”

  “What makes you think he’ll be there?” Kaiden lifted a small box from off the shelf next to him and examined it. He needed to refocus his mind.

  “Because Atra-Hasis is the name of the Noah character in the old Sumerian story of the Flood. It predates the biblical story.”

  “I know,” Kaiden said. He hadn’t sat around doing nothing while they waited at the terrorist base. He’d done his research. “TAP is following the original flood story, not the biblical one.”

  “That’s right,” Willow said.

  “But how does it matter?”

  “The Flood,” Willow said. “In both stories, the gods sent The Flood to destroy mankind.”

  “So?” He placed the box back on the shelf.

  “The Flood file Quill found was all in cuneiform,” she said. “I think it’s a blueprint for what TAP plans to do with the clones.”

  “You don’t think it’s about building a clone army?”

  Willow smirked. “Not a chance,” she said with a shake of her head. Her ponytail bobbed around her face and brushed Kaiden’s cheek again. “In the original story, one of the gods warned Atra-Hasis that another god was going to send a flood to destroy humanity. I think Noah plans exactly that—something that will sweep over humanity like a flood, and the clones are going to be the only ones who will survive somehow.”

  Kaiden grimaced at her. “You really think TAP would waste its time playing with fairy tales? Maybe humans are the flood, and TAP wants to fix them by introducing clones to improve the species.” Kaiden hadn’t forgotten the child wandering the streets in search of food.

  Willow was shaking her head before he finished speaking.

  “No,” she said. “It’s more sinister. I think The Ark Project has more than one agenda.”

  The airship shuddered and decreased its speed as it dropped in altitude.

  “Looks like the show is about to begin,” Kaiden said.

  Willow grabbed his hand. Her teeth bit her bottom lip, and her eyes were over-bright. “No matter what happens,” she whispered, “remember that I…” She paused and swallowed. “Remember that I’ll always care for you and that this was your idea to go after Noah, not mine.”

  Before Kaiden could respond, Willow leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. Then, she rose abruptly and left. Kaiden gazed after her, utterly confused at the warm feeling that surged into his chest.

  The airship settled onto the pad inside in the hangar at Ararat. Personnel went about their work of repairing, loading, and fueling the two dozen airships already docked in the hangar. A double set of iron stairs ran up to the next floor above wide bay doors that allowed materials and equipment to be delivered to the various departments. The team waited until the activity in the hangar quieted, and then they slipped out.

  Willow shouldered her rifle and fell into step behind one of Oakley’s men. Flint and Birch led the way as they strode from the rear hangar where the captured TAP supply airship landed. Flint monitored the cloaking software that concealed them all from view, and Birch kept an eye on the tablet she carried with the images sent from the new nano-bots she and Flint had built on a nano-fabricating machine the terrorists had.

  The nano-bots buzzed along in front of them and behind them to help them avoid any unwanted surprises. Kaiden glanced back at Willow, and she tried to smile at him, but she had seen the way he looked at her when she kissed him on the cheek.

  He didn’t trust her. She wished she could tell him all that she knew or suspected, but she couldn’t risk it. Not now. After nearly forty years of planning, she was on the cusp of shutting down TAP and stopping its brutal “harvesting” of brilliant, young children. Kaiden wouldn’t believe her if she did tell him what she thought. She almost didn’t believe it herself.

  She tried to convince herself that this wasn’t about revenge, but deep down, she knew that it was. Willow had expected to feel elated and triumphant, but, as she crept down the corridor concealed by Quill’s improved cloaking software, a strange sense of detachment overcame her, like she was moving in someone else’s body.

  She worried about what Oakley had planned. His initial affection toward her had cooled, and she was convinced that Iris had not died of her wounds. If Oakley had, indeed, killed Iris to keep her from telling Kaiden what she knew, then Oakley had another agenda entirely. What if Oakley wanted access to TAP technology so he could clone his own army? It might be a contradiction of his own beliefs, but as Oakley was fond of saying, “sacrifices had to be made,” and “you have to fight fire with fire.” Oakley was hiding things from her—just as she was hiding things from him.

  She touched the pocket where she kept the file Flint was going to upload into the clone chips—the file she had so desperately wanted to send to Oakley and her mother, so they would know she was alive. She hadn’t let anyone else see it or handle it. Only she knew what it contained.

  Willow had been so absorbed in her own musings that she didn’t notice how empty the corridors were. She glanced at her wrist terminal. This time of day, TAP should be busy. The labs would still be running. Where was security?

  She elbowed her way up to Kaiden’s side.

  “Something’s wrong,” she whispered.

  Kaiden nodded without looking at her. “The corridors are deserted. They’re expecting us.”

  “What are we going to do?”

  “What we came to do.”

  “But—”

  “We won’t get another chance,” Kaiden interrupted.

  “We’re here,” Flint whispered.

  The team came up short in front of Rio’s office. Flint bent over his computer in silence for several seconds. His black hair fell into his face.

  “This guy’s nifty to have around when you need to get past a locked door,” Birch said.

  As the door swished open, the alarms screeched to life. Red security lights flashed.

  “That’s not good,” Jade said.

  “Move!” Kaiden yelled.

  The team rushed into Rio’s office. Flint and Willow dashed to the computers and set to work. Birch sent the nano-bots down the corridor to warn them of anyone approaching while Kaiden, Jade, and Oakley, and the four men he brought with him took up positions by the door.

  “I get the feeling they expect
ed us to come here,” Jade shouted over the screaming alarms.

  Blue holographic screens buzzed to life all around them, showing video feed from all over TAP. Red security lights were flashing, and TAP personnel spilled into the corridors.

  “It’s gonna get ice cold in here real fast,” Birch said.

  “I think you mean it’s gonna get hot in here real fast,” Jade said.

  “Let’s go for uncomfortable,” Kaiden said.

  “Ah-ha!” Flint exclaimed. “Dang. That was easy. I thought they’d...Wait a minute.”

  “I think I like it better when you keep your thoughts to yourself,” Birch said. “You’re making me nervous.”

  “Hurry up,” Oakley demanded from the doorway where he waited with his four men.

  Willow tried to ignore them as she concentrated on hacking into the main laboratory computer and from there into the memory server. She initiated the download of all the memories of the crew just in case, and then she uploaded the two she had selected from her own memories. She let the download work in the background while she keyed into where Flint was struggling with the complicated firewall TAP used on their wireless system. She uploaded her file to his computer.

  Flint glanced at her. “I’m in.”

  “You keep saying that,” Jade said.

  “Well, this time, I’m in. Here goes.”

  Willow stepped back from her computer to peer over Flint’s shoulder.

  “It helps that I wrote some of this software,” Flint said.

  “What?” Willow said. “You remember writing it?”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Flint said. “I remember dying, too.”

  Willow stared at him. All these years, she thought she was the only one with complete memories. But how could she have been so naïve? That meant there must be others. What would it do to them to upload her memory into their brains? Would it even work?

  “Do you remember everything?”

  “Almost,” Flint said, “but there are blind spots where they damaged some of the parts they tried to overwrite. I can’t remember my mother or childhood, for instance.”

  “Guys?” Birch said with a note of warning as the holographic images showed the halls filling with TAP personnel. A squad raced toward Rio’s office.

  Flint winked at Willow. “I wrote it, so I could get in.” His finger paused over the enter key. He glanced at Willow for confirmation. Willow’s stomach churned. This was it.

  “Do it,” she whispered.

  Flint clicked the key. The slap of running feet sounded in the corridor.

  “Here they come,” Birch shouted.

  Willow glanced up at the screens where TAP personnel in every color jacket scampered here and there, following their security protocols. She knew the labs would soon be locked down. Security personnel in their black outfits sprinted down the corridors, securing the vital areas. She caught sight of Rio heading their way, leading a group of armed security.

  Then, people began collapsing. Willow winced as their bodies jerked and writhed on the floor, and she was glad they had removed the switches from their bodies. Otherwise, all of them would be experiencing the same horror. Some curled up into balls. Others rolled and thrashed. She wished Flint had found a way to upload the memory without triggering the discipline. It was horrible to watch, especially when she knew how terrible it really was.

  “Better get started,” Jade said to Kaiden. “We’ll be right behind you once genius here is done with the computers.”

  Oakley and his men stepped to follow Kaiden when Birch leveled her rifle at them. “Not you,” she said. “You’re not invited to this party.”

  “We had a deal,” Oakley said.

  “A deal with the devil never stands,” Birch said. “Isn’t that your philosophy? Now, drop your guns. We’re not having you running amuck shooting clones for fun.”

  When they hesitated, Jade stepped up to them. “I’m against killing clones,” she said. “But terrorists are at the top of my shoot-on-sight list. So, unless you want to be filled with lead, you should do as she says.”

  “You’ll regret this,” Oakley said and gestured for the men to drop their guns.

  “Letting you live?” Jade said. “I already do.”

  As Birch and Jade secured the five terrorist prisoners and deposited them in a side room for safekeeping, Kaiden glanced back at Willow as if to say, “I’m trusting you,” and raced off at a sprint. She followed his progress on the cameras as he leaped over and around the sprawled bodies. Maybe she should have resisted and forced Kaiden to send someone else. But he never would have relented. He wouldn’t have believed her.

  “Where’s he going?” Birch asked. “That’s not the way to—”

  “There are terrorists in the building,” Flint said. “Lots of them.”

  Willow spun to face the screen. Sure enough. Dozens of T-shirt clad terrorists were swarming in from the landing bay.

  “They waited until we neutralized everyone,” Jade said, “and then just flew right in the open doors.”

  “Oakley planned this,” Willow said.

  She raced for the door to the room where they had secured Oakley and his men. There was a flash and a bang. The door was ripped off its hinges and flew at her. She ducked, but the door still caught her a glancing blow on the shoulder. She tumbled to the floor and crouched until the rush of debris ended. Then, she bounded to her feet. The room was empty. Oakley was gone.

  The screens went blank, and the lights blinked out. Willow gasped and bolted for the door. She had to warn Kaiden that Oakley was loose, and his thugs had infiltrated TAP. They had been duped. She had underestimated Oakley.

  “Kaiden,” she yelled into her WT.

  Silence.

  “Kaiden,” she tried again, but he didn’t answer.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Brother Against Brother

  The lights flickered out as Kaiden arrived at the stairwell. He skidded to a stop until the emergency lights flashed on. A blackout hadn’t been part of their plan. The little globes cast an eerie, blue light over the whimpering bodies of the clones who had had their memories reset. Some were crawling to their hands and knees. Some vomited in the corners. Some didn’t stir at all.

  Kaiden kicked through the door to the stairwell and bounded down the stairs two at a time. He had no idea what the reset would do to the other clones, and he needed to reach the lowest level before anyone discovered what he was doing. He knew the cameras would probably warn Noah he was coming—especially without Quill’s cloaking software. Birch and Flint were the only ones who knew how to operate it. But he couldn’t do anything about that at the moment.

  He flew down the stairs past four levels when he heard a door bang open below him. He paused on the landing to catch his breath and to see who was in the stairwell below. Boots thumped on the stairs. They were climbing.

  He peeked over the railing and saw a close-shaved black head that could only be Rio’s. Kaiden cursed. “Not now,” he whispered. But he didn’t have a choice. He had to reach level nine, and Rio was in the way. He shouldered his rifle and aimed. The red button of light in the scope settled on Rio’s head.

  One squeeze of the trigger, and Rio would never order him around again. Kaiden would never have to endure his sneers. He started to squeeze the trigger and then stopped. He couldn’t do it. Not like this. Rio had been his commanding officer just doing his job.

  Kaiden flipped the rifle over his back to let it hang by its sling and waited until Rio was just beneath him. Then, he leaped over the rail, grabbing it with both hands as he pivoted and swung feet first at Rio’s body.

  Rio spun to meet him, but Kaiden’s feet slammed into his chest, sending him sprawling against the wall and then tumbling down the stairs. Rio’s rifle bounced between the handrails and crashed to the stairs below.

  Kaiden
bounded down the stairs and was on top of Rio as Rio’s hand found his sidearm. Kaiden caught the arm with both hands and rammed his knee into Rio’s face. Rio jerked and sent Kaiden flying over his head. Kaiden kept a hold of the pistol and dragged it, along with Rio, as he spun through the air and slammed onto the stairs. But he didn’t have control of the pistol. It discharged with a loud crack that made his ears ring. The bullet grazed his shoulder. His elbow banged against a stair, making his left arm go numb.

  Kaiden rolled to his feet just as Rio leaped forward and smashed a big fist into his face. Kaiden stumbled and reached out for the wall.

  “Traitor,” Rio snarled and swung again, but Kaiden ducked and punched Rio in the groin. Rio cursed and doubled over as Kaiden brought the butt of the pistol crashing down on the back of Rio’s head where the spine connected to the skull. Rio grunted and fell.

  Rio groaned. Kaiden knew he wasn’t dead, but he didn’t have time to wait and see. He jumped over Rio, snatched up his own rifle, and sprang down the stairs.

  When he reached the ninth level down, he slowed to a walk, trying to catch his breath. His head ached, and his shoulder burned. His elbow was beginning to swell. He could feel it tugging against his shirtsleeve. The blood from the small bullet wound had soaked into his clothes, but he could already feel it closing. The INCR was working.

  Kaiden needed to calm down. He took a few steadying breaths as he strode down the corridor. He knew the door was on this level about halfway down the hall, but the door might be hidden.

  A massive explosion rocked the compound. The safety lights flickered. Something had gone wrong.

  Willow sprinted down the corridor now lit by the little blue safety lights protruding from the ceiling. She had to catch up with Kaiden. She couldn’t let him do this alone.

  She tried her WT again, but Kaiden didn’t respond.

  Clones were starting to come around from the effects of the discipline. Some were standing, gazing around in confusion. Willow slowed as more and more of them staggered to their feet. A few glanced at her and then started down the hallway. Others scowled as she jogged past. Realizing that she was drawing attention to herself, Willow slowed to a walk. She tried to control her breathing and the desperate fear that choked her. What if Kaiden couldn’t do it and everything failed? And what was Oakley planning? The electricity wasn’t supposed to go out. He had set something in motion that taking him prisoner wouldn’t stop.