*Julie-Eight dried her eyes in Cindy’s bathroom. She had to be brave like her sister. But she didn’t know how. She’d spent her whole life locked in the house with Juliet.
“Julie?” Someone tapped at the door. “Are you all right?”
Cindy. Julie-Eight struggled to sound cheerful and called out. “I’m okay.”
“If you come out here, we can call Juliet on the phone.”
Her eyes welled with tears again. She missed her sister so bad she ached all over. Juliet would tell her to stop crying and think of something good.
But nothing about locking herself in a stranger’s bathroom was good.
She turned on the sink and cupped her hands under the water. The cool water calmed her nerves a little, and splashing it on her face soothed the redness in her eyes, cheeks, and nose. Juliet said they didn’t need to be perfect anymore, but Julie-Eight didn’t know any other way to be.
Her new scabs were a reminder that, so far, being “normal” hurt.
After drying her face, she inspected her reflection in the mirror. Better. If she got to talk to Juliet, she needed to hold herself together. She wasn’t a baby.
She grabbed the knob and opened the door.
Cindy looked over from the couch and smiled. “There you are. I saved you a seat.”
Julie-Eight did her best to keep her head up and shoulders back as she walked over to sit down with Cindy. She didn’t feel brave yet, but she could pretend.
Cindy’s little sister, Vanessa, sat on the floor watching the television. She didn’t seem to notice Julie-Eight existed.
Cindy touched her Julie-Eight’s knee. She flinched, and Cindy retracted her hand with sympathy in her eyes. “You’ve had a rough couple of days.”
Julie-Eight nodded, gnawing at the inside of her cheek. She was done crying. “Can we call my sister?”
“Yeah.” She glanced toward the kitchen and raised her voice. “Todd, do you have the number Zack gave you for Juliet’s new phone?”
His shoulders took up the entire hallway. Julie-Eight had never seen such a tall, muscular man before. Her father was skinny. Todd smiled a lot, too. It made him less scary—more like a friendly giant.
“Hey, Julie.” He winked and focused on his cell phone, touching the screen. Finally, he lifted it to his ear as he approached the couch. “Juliet? Hey, it’s Todd. Got a minute to talk to your sister?”
He nodded and held the phone out to Julie. Her pulse raced as she brought the little device to her ear. “Hello?”
“It’s me,” Juliet replied, and Julie-Eight’s lips curved into a smile. Just hearing her sister’s voice lifted some of the fear she’d been carrying since they had driven away from the park. “Sorry we didn’t get to say goodbye.” Juliet paused. “Are you all right with Cindy and Todd?”
“Yeah.” Julie-Eight nodded, wishing her sister was in the room with her. “They’re nice.”
“Good. You can call this number anytime you need me.”
“Okay.” Julie looked at her hand in her lap and added, “I’ll be brave.”
“You’re very brave. I love you. And I’ll see you soon.”
“I love you, too.” She couldn’t quite keep the wobble out of her voice, but she didn’t cry. She handed the phone back to Todd.
He lifted it to his ear and said, “Everything is cool over here. Try not to worry, okay? And tell Z–Man I’m heading back his way.”
He ended the call and put his phone in his pocket. “Zack is a wizard on a computer. You’ll be back with Juliet really soon. You’ll see.”
Julie-Eight nodded and hoped he was right.
She wasn’t sure how much courage she had left.
*
The gentle hiccup at the end of Julie-Eight’s words broke Juliet’s heart. She stared at the ceiling, struggling to keep from crying.
Zack glanced her way. “Everything all right?”
“No.” She wiped her nose and set the cell phone aside before wrapping her arms tightly around herself. “But hopefully it will be.”
Hearing Julie-Eight’s voice had flooded Juliet with relief. She was safe. Now Juliet could focus on exposing the people who had been using them from birth.
Billy had been gone about a half hour. He’d left her with Zack while he went to empty his bank account, check his parents tax records for any connection to Eden, and leave his cell phone. They figured it’d be safer for her to stay out of sight in case her parents showed up at Billy’s place again.
Sitting still wasn’t helping the dread building inside her. “Is there anything I can do?”
Zack had gentle eyes, like an old soul, a dreamer. His lips curved into an awkward smile. “Sure.” He picked up the cell phone. “You need to learn how to work this thing. We showed you how to answer a phone call, but you should be able to text, too. You can add our numbers into the contacts, then press on a name and send a message.” He wrote a few numbers on a slip of paper and slid it to her. “Once you master using the cell, then you can help me look for patterns in these phone records so I can focus my efforts on a target.”
He spoke English, but she wasn’t sure exactly what he meant. Patterns of what? But he was already facing the screens again. She gripped the cell phone and started experimenting, pressing the screen over and over until she found the spot to add a contact. After entering Billy’s number, she clicked the “message” button and typed. After a few frustrating mistakes and autocorrections she pressed “send.”
Testing…
She waited with no idea how long it would take for a response. When the phone chimed, she almost hit the ceiling.
Got it. This is?
She grinned and feverishly typed, then touched “send” again.
Juliet.
His reply came back fast.
You’re texting!
She nodded, then rolled her eyes realizing he couldn’t see her.
I am! Zack told me to learn to use the phone.
A few seconds later the phone chimed again.
You’re a quick study.
She had no business being so proud. But she couldn’t help it. She’d watched people focused on their cell phones as they walked down her street, but this was her first time. And she had figured it out.
Thank you.
Zack peered over his shoulder. “You’re already addicted to texting, I can tell.”
She chuckled and shrugged. “I never knew what a cell phone was like.”
It chimed.
On my way back now. No sign of your parents.
“Do I need to say goodbye or something when we’re finished?”
Zack shook his head. “Nah, you just stop texting.”
Juliet kept busy with the phone, trying to familiarize herself with all the functions and apps. She was the one who had gotten Billy and his friends into this mess, the least she could do was become a valuable member of the team.
*
Bill couldn’t stop checking his rearview mirror. He used to imagine that being a spy like James Bond would be exciting, but now that he wasn’t sure who he could trust, it wasn’t thrilling. It was stressful—and scarier than he wanted to admit.
His wallet bulged with just over $950. All his savings from his part-time job at Starbucks on campus and what was left of the emergency cash his parents had left would have to be enough to sustain them until Zack found evidence they could share with the media. The prepaid cell phone was beside him in the passenger seat. His iPhone was turned off, and he’d left it sitting on the dresser back in his bedroom. They wouldn’t be able to use it to trace him to Juliet.
He wiped sweat from his brow at the light. His phone beeped, and he grabbed it, way too eager to see the text from Juliet.
Zack said these are emoticons. He also says I’ve mastered the cell phone.
The message was flanked at both the beginning and end with happy faces, hearts, and every other emoticon she could find.
He chuckled, setting the phone aside as the light turned green. How was it that she could make him smile when he was so tense that his knuckles ached on the steering wheel? Until now, he’d thought finals at UCLA were stressful. But school pressure was nothing compared to finding out his dad was paying for his college education with money from a company that was cloning girls and holding them prisoner.
Perfect girls.
He still couldn’t believe it. He shook his head and made a right turn.
His mom had called his cell right before he powered it down. They were in New York. She tried again to persuade him to give Juliet and her sister back to their parents. And this time, she’d sounded scared.
That was the only reason he’d agreed to meet her tomorrow morning. Nothing she could possibly tell him would make him hand Juliet and Julie-Eight over to their evil excuses for parents, but he wanted to understand how his dad had gotten involved in this foundation and, more importantly, why.
If he got lucky, maybe he’d get some information that might help them expose Genesis to the world.
A guy could hope.
He pulled into Zack’s place and parked. Juliet came out the side door as he slammed the truck door. He frowned, scanning the street. “Juliet, you can’t be out here. Your picture has been all over TV. Someone might see you.”
Her smile faded, and she slipped back into the garage.
Bill rubbed his nose, sighing as he stepped inside. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. I just don’t want…”
“I know.” Her arms were wrapped around her middle. “I get it. Being out of that house makes me forget I’m still not really free.”
“Not yet, but you will be.”
She didn’t look convinced, and he couldn’t blame her. He was a nineteen-year-old undergrad with no superspy experience attempting to take down a corporation that was secretly cloning humans and trying to achieve some twisted perfection. This was way above his pay grade.
“How’s it going, Z-Man?” He clasped his friend’s shoulder.
Zack looked up from the screen. “Getting closer. I have a list of frequently called numbers, and one has an out-of-state area code.” He stopped typing, his hands dropping from the keyboard. “You left your cell?”
“Yep. It’s back in my room.” Bill held up the new burner phone. “I’m only using this one.”
“Did you dig around your parents’ tax records?”
His chest tightened as he pulled an open envelope out of his back pocket. “These were in my mom’s tax bin from last year.” He laid two W-2 forms on the table. “My mom works for Eden, Incorporated too.”
Both of his parents were mixed up in human cloning. He couldn’t reconcile it. They’d always been good parents to him. How could they have turned their backs on Juliet and her…sister?
Zack slid the papers over and shook his head. “Damn.” He looked up a Bill. “I’ll see what I can find with Eden. This is a good lead.”
“Let me know if there’s other info that you need. I’m meeting my mom for coffee tomorrow morning. Maybe she’ll tell me something we can use.” Zack and Juliet stared at him as if he’d sprouted two heads. Bill shrugged. “I’ll be fine. We’ll be at the busiest Starbucks in town during the morning coffee rush. Plus, she’s my mom. She’s not going to hurt me. She thinks she’s protecting me.”
Zack raised a brow. “Being overconfident never ends well. I’ll drive you and wait in my van just in case.”
Juliet nodded. “I’ll go, too.”
Bill turned to Juliet, shaking his head. “Bad idea. You’re the one they want.”
“But if something goes wrong, I can protect you.”
“By giving yourself up?” Bill pulled a chair over and sat down. “No. They’ll kill you.”
Her arms tightened around her middle. “They were going to do that anyway, perfect or not.”
Zack whistled. “This is messed up.”
“Yeah.” Bill nodded. “But if my mom lets some information slip that could incriminate Genesis or hands over any proof of what they’re really up to, then meeting with her is a risk worth taking.” He met Juliet’s eyes. “And you’re my insurance policy. As long as I’m their only link to you, they can’t take me out. They need me, or they’ll never find you.”
A car pulled up outside. Bill peered through the slats of the mini-blinds and smiled. “It’s Todd.”
It was stupid, but having Zack and Todd on his team made him feel invincible. They’d been the three musketeers since elementary school. If they stuck together, they could get through anything.
And right now, he was betting his life on it.