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Kat studied the back dust jacket of Daniel’s book while Tyler drove. She was relieved, yet confused, that the Hutchinson family hadn’t been victims in their own home. Except the cat had either been killed or injured and somehow escaped. The analysis of the cat’s blood disturbed her. The Pittsburgh Lockdown File that Carpenter had given her showed the cat’s DNA also had the same gene markers the shape shifters possessed. That information troubled her, but it explained why the cat didn’t look or act like a normal feline.
“Carpenter wants us to go to their hotel and see if we can make contact with the Hutchinson’s,” she said.
Kat typed the hotel address into the console computer.
Tyler nodded but didn’t reply. He kept his attention on the road. Occasional fog patches drifted across the roadway. The steady rain refused to lessen and the window defroster failed to keep the windshield from fogging up.
Kat glanced out the side window. A thick fog canopy hid the river from sight. “He also believes TGC has Lucas. The real Lucas.”
“Really?” Tyler asked, looking her direction for the first time. “Why?”
“He didn’t say. He’s on his way back. I’m sure he’ll tell us more when he returns.”
Tyler slammed the brakes. He narrowly missed the tail end of the car in the road ahead of them. A line of red taillights blazed for as far as they could see.
“Dammit,” he said. “Must be a wreck up ahead.”
“It’s always something.”
***
Nancy shivered when Lucas tied the boat at the marina. Her clothes were drenched with icy rain. Her fingers were shriveled like raisins.
Lucas hid the gun inside a storage compartment behind the boat driver’s seat. They hurried past house and fishing boats until they came to a nearly vacant parking lot. Due to the weather, no fishermen stood outside their vehicles telling exaggerated stories about the fish that got away.
Emergency lights flashed on the highway. A police cruiser, an ambulance, and a wrecker set at the middle of the roadway. Several people pushed heavy-duty contractor brooms and rushed to clean up broken glass while paramedics tended to the injured.
Lucas cringed, seeing all the law enforcers nearby. The last thing he needed was a police officer recognizing him. Getting arrested would definitely make the evening news, and once again, he’d be handed over the TransGenCorp. But this time, he knew Idris would kill him without any worry about finding the device Lucas had stolen.
Lucas stared at the line of stalled vehicles. He nodded toward the far end parking lot exit about one hundred yards away. Nancy glanced in the direction he indicated. Policemen stood filling out their accident reports. A few others motioned one lane of traffic to maneuver around the wrecked vehicles.
“We have to be careful,” Lucas said. “If they see me, they won’t hesitate to arrest me.”
“Why?”
“My clone framed me for murder this morning, so we need to avoid the police officers as best we can.”
“What do we do?”
“Since the police are there, let’s head to the other exit near the overpass bridge.”
“How is that going to help us?”
“Let’s see if we can gain charity from someone else stuck in traffic. If we’re lucky someone will give us a ride.”
***
Johanna sat on the edge of the bed and wiped her eyes. Sadness and anger rushed through her. Everything she had worked her ass off to achieve since she had been freed from Pittsburgh was being destroyed and taken from her. The longer she sat inside the hotel room, the more she stood to lose.
“I have to get out of here,” she said, rising to her feet and grabbing her purse. She unzipped it, saw the gun, and tucked the purse under her arm.
Julia placed her hands on Johanna’s shoulders. “No, you can’t go out there alone.”
“I have to. Don’t you understand? Two of my workers were killed. One was a friend who believed in everything I am doing.”
“Honey,” Lydia said. “They’re after all of us.”
“I have to go to the studio.”
Daniel shook his head. “No, Johanna. You go there and they’ll kill you, too. They’ve attacked our homes and your workplace in order to flush us out. They want to shake us up and make us vulnerable. The closer we stay together , the better a threat we are to them.”
“I’m too mad to be vulnerable,” she said.
Julia and Lydia wrapped their arms around Johanna in a tight embrace.
“Don’t guys,” Johanna said. “You’ll make me cry.”
“Crying is okay,” Julia said, brushing Johanna’s hair from her eyes.
“Not for me.”
Daniel gave her a gentle stare. “If you die, we’ll all mourn. Stay with us. We’ll get them for what they’ve done.”
“I guarantee that,” Morton said.
“It’s difficult losing the people close to you,” Daniel said. “I lost so many when we were trapped in Pittsburgh. I eventually stopped allowing myself to get close to anyone. You’re the only circle of friends I have left. I’ll be damned if I let anyone attempt to take you away.”
Johanna wiped tears from her eyes. “What do we do now?”
Daniel sighed. “I’ve been thinking about that. We can’t stay here much longer. Eventually, they’ll locate our vehicles and when they do, we’ll be pinned inside this room. We might hold them off for a while, but a strong enough force will overtake us in the end. We can’t sit with our backs to the wall, but we can’t take foolish chances, either. I don’t know if Lucas is still alive. I only hope that he is. However, we do know his clone is very much alive.”
Lydia nodded. “Unless his injuries killed him. That’s highly unlikely.”
“Very unlikely the crash killed him,” Morton said.
“He was in horrible shape when I left him,” she said with a slight smile.
“But he’s also not a normal human,” Daniel said.
“I know,” she replied.
“Why didn’t you kill him when you had the chance?” Morton asked.
Lydia sighed. “I almost pulled the trigger and killed him, but I simply couldn’t.”
“Why not?” Johanna asked.
“Because in a sense, he’s Lucas. I thought if I killed him, I could never mend my relationship with the real Lucas. I doubt that makes any sense at all.”
“It does, actually,” Julia said.
Lydia shook her head. “But leaving him alive will keep us guessing where he’s at. I was too weak.”
“Nonsense,” Daniel said. “I don’t know anyone in this room that would have shot and killed the twin of the one we loved the most.”
“But he’ll keep coming.”
Morton flexed his claws. “Then we’ll be ready when he shows up.”
***
Fifteen minutes of sitting in traffic unnerved Kat. She needed to get to the hotel as quickly as possible. Every minute they lost waiting was a minute TGC gained to find Daniel and his friends before she did.
“I’ll be damned,” she said.
Tyler looked at her. “What’s wrong?”
Kat pointed toward the vehicles parked ahead of them. “That’s the clone.”
Tyler rose in his seat. Three cars ahead, Lucas rested his hands on the passenger door of a gray SUV and talked to the occupants through their lowered window. Although he seemed cordial and polite, in the end he gave a sad, understanding nod and then he moved to the next car.
Kat lowered her window a couple of inches to hear what Lucas said to the people in the car ahead of them. In spite of his friendly smile, his nervous demeanor made him look like a fugitive.
“What’s he doing?” Tyler asked.
Kat shrugged. “I’m not sure. Looks like he’s trying to get a ride.”
“Who’s the girl?”
“I don’t know.”
“Excuse me, sir,” Lucas said to the driver of the car in front of Kat and Tyler. “Our car is broke down. Could you possibly give us a ride? No? I understand. Well, thank you anyway.”
The teenage girl walking with him didn’t seem frightened or that he was forcing her to stay with him. She had a genuine childlike trust.
Kat pulled her gun and held it between the seat and her door when Lucas approached their vehicle.
“Get ready,” she said to Tyler.
Tyler looped his fingers through the door handle. Lucas smiled at Kat through the tinted glass. Kat lowered her window and smiled. Lucas opened his mouth to speak. One second later, her gun was pointed at Lucas’ face.
Tyler shoved open his door, rested his elbows on the roof with his gun aimed at Lucas. He said, “FBI. Put your hands behind your head and don’t move.”
Lucas did as instructed without any argument. Kat stepped from the car and handcuffed him.
“Who are you?” she asked Nancy.
Tyler lowered Lucas into the backseat of the car.
“Nancy Helmsby.”
“Dr. Helmsby’s daughter?”
“Yes.”
Kat frowned. “Why are you with him?”
“Lucas?”
“His clone.”
“That’s not his clone,” Nancy said, shivering and hugging herself for warmth. More rain beaded through the white fog. Moisture dripped from her slicked down hair. “Look. May I get inside the car, too? I’m very cold.”
Kat nodded in spite of her bewildered stare. “Of course. I’m sorry.”
Once inside, Kat asked, “How can we be absolutely certain you aren’t the clone?”
Lucas smiled. His teeth chattered. He shuddered from the cold, too. Streams of water formed lines down his face. “For starters, you’re both still alive. The clone would have taken your gun before you saw his hand move. He’d have killed you both. Even if you had shot him, he heals rapidly. Besides that, when I was up ahead asking for a ride, he wouldn’t have taken no for an answer. He’d have pulled the driver through the window and stolen the car.”
“Guns don’t intimidate him?” Tyler asked.
“Few things frighten him.”
Kat dialed Carpenter on the car phone. “Sir, we just picked Lucas up.”
Carpenter’s surprised voice replied over the speaker, “The clone, you mean?”
“No, I believe we have the real Lucas in custody.”
“How? Lucas?”
“Yes, sir?”
“It was our understanding,” Carpenter said. “That TGC had somehow transferred you into their custody.”
Lucas nodded at Kat and said, “Yes, they did.”
“And you simply escaped?”
“Not simply, sir.”
Nancy spoke up. “Actually we both escaped.”
“Who is that?” Carpenter asked.
Kat smiled. “Dr. Helmsby’s daughter, Nancy.”
“TGC was holding you, too?” he asked.
“Yes.” Nancy explained the circumstances surrounding her capture and how she escaped to free Lucas.
Traffic ahead of them began to move.
“So,” Carpenter said. “You’re saying TGC held you prisoner? Why?”
Lucas replied, “To get her father to do experiments he’d never do under normal circumstances.”
“Like what? Cloning techniques?”
“Yes. Exactly.”
“That makes no sense. Idris had already made clones,” Carpenter said. “He didn’t need Helmsby to make more.”
“Why dirty your own hands when you can force someone else to do the job for you?”
“True,” Carpenter said. “Kat, did you handcuffed him?”
“Yes.”
Carpenter replied, “You can remove them if you’re like me and believe him.”
Kat looked deeply into Lucas’ eyes and read his inner pain. The hurt also showed in the gentle creases around the edge of his eyes. Pain had worn those crows’ feet. But so much innocence beamed that she couldn’t stop herself from smiling. She turned the key and unlocked the cuffs.
“It’s a strange story,” she said. “But not too strange to be true.”
Carpenter said, “I have Godfrey’s Operation Meltdown File. I understand why Idris had both senators killed. But what I don’t understand is why they kept you alive, Lucas. You care to elaborate?”
Lucas rubbed his wrists and shrugged his shoulders to loosen the tightness. “I have something that can destroy TransGenCorp and everything Idris holds sacred. But I have to get it back inside TransGenCorp in order for it to work.”
“What exactly do you have? I can’t find anything in the file about it.”
“Trust me,” Lucas said. “You’re safer not knowing should I fail. Two dead senators and two guards are enough proof for that.”
“Okay. I’ll take your word for that right now. At least until we decide the best way to stage an attack on TGC.”
Lucas popped his neck and interlocked his fingers, stretching them. “Idris threatened the lives of all my friends. He sent sweeper teams to kill them. I don’t know that he did but that’s what he claimed he did.”
Kat nodded. “He did send teams, but from our evidence they all failed. We believe they’re all alive at a hotel.”
“If that’s true, they need warned of the danger. Idris won’t call off his hunt until they’re all dead.”
“We know,” Kat said. “That’s where we’re going. Our biggest concern is that they won’t answer their cell phones so we can help them.”
Lucas grinned. “In times of crisis, Daniel becomes very paranoid. He never fully recovered from our ordeals at the research center. If he doesn’t recognize the number, he’s not going to answer.”
“Lucas?” Carpenter said.
“Yes?”
“According to the Meltdown file, you’ve infiltrated TGC several times. Is this correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“So you know the guard detail and the facility’s ground layout fairly well?”
“I’d say I know the outside as well as their guards.”
“How about the inside of TGC?”
“I know the first two floors really well. And what I don’t know about the lower levels, Nancy probably does. Hell, she even has a partial map.”
“Okay,” Carpenter said. “So you’re telling me if we get you back inside TGC, you can shut it down?”
“I can.”
“How many perimeter guards are there?”
“Twenty-four.”
“That’s it?”
“There’s four more at the gate and six that patrol inside.”
“I would have expected more. A lot more.”
“The guards are hired ex-military, top elite mercenaries. Only the gate guards are American.”
“Let me make a few phone calls,” Carpenter said. “If you’re able, we’ll get you back inside TGC today. I want it shutdown immediately before more innocent people get killed by what experiments Idris has created.”
“I can handle it. The sooner we stop him, the better. I know Idris is there right now. This time he won’t get away.”
“Kat,” Carpenter said. “Reunite Lucas and Nancy with their friends. I’ll get everything into motion on this end and call you back. Be careful.”
***
Rex sat at the foot of the bed and barked incessantly at Morton.
“I told you dogs are stupid,” Morton said. “Can’t understand its mindless prattle.”
“I thought you said that you could communicate with it,” Daniel said.
Morton gave Daniel a shrewd, stern glare. He nodded at the dog. “You hear anything German coming out of its mouth? At least if it was part shifter, it would have enough brainwaves for me to have a halfway decent conversation with it.”
Daniel frowned. “So he’s not a shifter at all?”
“It’s just a dog,” Morton said with disgust.
“You’re certain?”
Rex wagged his tail and barked.
“Well, you could kill him and do an autopsy,” Morton replied with a beaming smile.
“That won’t be necessary.”
Morton stared into the dog’s eyes with grim determination. He stared long and hard until the dog whimpered and lay down, burying its eyes beneath its oversized paws.
***
Lucian tried to shunt his need for vengeance but his violent lust to shed blood became more than he could control at times. After Lucian had stolen the car, he left the frightened old man at the edge of the road. Lucian had managed not to shoot the man, but instead fired the gun into the air and pointed at the old man a second time. While Lucian held the gun on the man, the old fellow cautiously stepped from his vehicle, pleading for his life. It took everything inside Lucian to resist the urge to kill. Yet, he still fought with an inward need for vengeance.
Something had kept him from shooting the man, and he pondered for a reason. Then it occurred to him that the man had done him no harm and was innocent.
But Lucian still sought to find Lydia and make her suffer for his heartache and for nearly dragging him across the threshold of death. But finding her wasn’t going to be an easy task.
With all the elimination teams sent to kill Lucas’ friends, Lydia had no one she could run to. All she could do was run, but with a world full of hiding places, he guessed he’d never see her again. To quench his burning hatred, his desire to kill had become momentarily misplaced upon the elderly man. Now he realized whom he needed to kill—the man that created him into a life filled without hope, no eternity.
Idris.
***
When Tyler pulled into the hotel parking lot, Lucas said to Kat, “Daniel may not answer your calls but forward a call to him through my cell number.”
***
When Daniel’s phone rang, he read Lucas’ name and number on the message screen with a great deal of skepticism. He understood the danger of staying at the hotel much longer. He was also out of fresh ideas for what to do next. He decided to take the call. If it were somehow Lucas, that was welcomed news. But if not, and it was something sinister, they’d be forced to make a move.
“Lucas?” Daniel asked quietly.
“Yeah, Dan. It’s me.”
“Are you okay?”
“Now that I’ve escaped, I’m doing a lot better.”
Lydia stepped closer to Daniel to listen. She shook her head and whispered. “It could be his clone.”
Daniel placed his hand over the phone and said, “I know. I’ll be careful.”
He placed the call on speaker and said to Lucas, “You’ve escaped? Where are you?”
“In your hotel parking lot.”
“You’re outside? How’d you find us?”
Johanna and Morton peered through the slit in the curtains. “If he’s out there, I don’t see him,” Johanna said.
“I do,” Morton said. “He’s in the car with the tinted windows.”
Lucas said, “I had some help. Nancy’s with me. She’s the only reason I got out alive.”
“Nancy’s in Germany, Luke. Helmsby told me that yesterday.”
“That may be what he told you, but the truth is they were holding her prisoner to blackmail him.”
“He’s not lying,” Morton said. “She’s in the backseat with him.”
Johanna looked at Morton. “How can you see them? The glass is tinted.”
Morton smiled. “Just something this cat can do.”
Rex barked. Morton glared at the dog. With sad eyes, it lowered its head to the carpet and sighed.
“Is that Rex?” Lucas asked. “You have my pup?”
“Lydia brought him here,” Daniel said. Julia wrapped her arms around Daniel’s waist and like Lydia; she was trying to hear what Lucas said. Felicia sat engrossed with the cartoons on the television.
“Really? Why was she at my house?”
“It’s a long story. Let’s put it this way. We’re all fortunate to be alive at this point. Who are the people with you?”
“The FBI.”
“FBI?”
“Yes. They’re going to help me shut down TransGenCorp for good.”
“How?”
“I’ll explain that to you later. Right now, can we come inside?”
Daniel looked at Lydia. She put her hand on her gun and nodded. “I will know if it’s really him,” she said. “The clone has one thing less than Lucas. And only I would know that. Let him in, alone. If it’s Lucas, we can allow the others in afterwards.”
“You hear that?” Daniel asked.
“Loud and clear. Why the distrust in her voice?”
“Your clone tried to kill her last night.”
“Damn, I’m sorry Lydia. I’m glad you managed to escape.”
“Come alone,” Daniel said. “So she can look you over.”
Lucas laughed. “It’s been awhile, but okay.”
Johanna took her gun from her purse and stood at the window as Lucas crossed the parking lot. Julia took Felicia to the bathroom and locked the door. Daniel never thought he’d be this nervous again. Memories of the clone’s past betrayal made him fear that this might not be Lucas and their lives were all in immense danger. He tried to reassure himself that it was Lucas because Nancy wouldn’t be with the clone. But how far had TransGenCorp gone? Had they cloned her, too?
The room filled with tension. Only Morton remained calm. He sat on the table and watched the door. Did he have a sense that revealed to him that Lucas was Lucas? He hadn’t expressed any warning when he saw Lucas through the window.
Lucas knocked on the door. When Daniel opened the door, Lydia and Johanna had their guns aimed at him.
Lucas raised his hands. “Nice to see you all again, too.”
Daniel pushed the door closed. “Sorry, but we really have no choice.”
“I understand. Believe me, I do. What do you want me to do? How can I prove to you that I’m who I am?”
Lydia motioned with her gun. “Put your hands against the wall and spread your legs.”
Lucas obeyed without offering the slightest snide comment.
Lydia approached him cautiously. She said, “Please, don’t make any sudden moves.”
Lucas stared at the floor. “I won’t.”
Rex padded across the floor and sat at Lucas’ feet. His tail wagged from recognizing his master.
Lydia placed her left hand on the collar of Lucas’ shirt and lifted the hair off the nape of his neck. The gun shook in her hand, and she holstered the weapon. Her eyes moistened with tears. The tattoo was there. She grabbed his arm and turned him toward her. With a fierce embrace, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face against his chest.
“Oh, thank God,” she whispered. “It is you. I was so worried about you.”
Lucas hugged her tightly. “I’ve been worried sick over you, too. All of you.”
Daniel shook his head and stared at Lydia. “I don’t understand. How do you know it’s him?”
Lydia turned her face toward Daniel but didn’t loosen her hold on Lucas. “Lucas has a tattoo on his neck that I bought him for a present. That’s how I knew the clone wasn’t Lucas. He doesn’t have it. And most people don’t know it’s there because Lucas always wears his hair down over his collar.”
“Well, you have me there. I certainly had no knowledge about it,” Daniel said.
Johanna put her gun back inside her purse. “I’ll get Julia and Felicia.”
Daniel nodded. “Nancy’s with you?”
“Yes,” Lucas replied. Lydia looked at him with a wide smile, and he kissed her. To Lydia, he said, “I’ve never wanted to be apart from you.”
She took a deep breath. “I was ready to call you and tell you I wanted to try dating again. Then I saw the murders on television and your arrest. I was crushed.”
“I told you about my clone.”
“Continually.”
“I didn’t think you believed me.”
“Not completely, but . . . I don’t think I would have had you not been arrested. I knew you couldn’t murder anyone in cold blood. But, I killed three men last night.”
“They were trying to kill you. That’s self-defense.”
Lydia shook her head. “Yes, but it doesn’t make me feel any less guilty. They’re still dead.”
“And you’re alive,” Lucas said with a smile. “I wouldn’t want it the other way around. Those men were monsters assigned to kill you. Idris sent them. If they had succeeded, I’d have no reason left to live.”
She smiled through her tears. “The same goes for me. Without you, there’d be no me.”
“Guys, I hate to break this up,” Daniel said. “But we need to figure out what we must do. Get Nancy and those agents up here. I’m interested in knowing how they plan to help us.”
***
Lucian called Idris from the car phone.
“We’ve had no report from you,” Idris said. “Where’s the team?”
“Dead.”
“Dead? What happened?”
“Lydia’s what happened. She picked them off one by one.”
“Lydia?” Idris sounded amused.
“She almost killed me.”
“Any idea where she went?”
“No.”
“Don’t worry, son. We’ll find her soon enough. You can count on that. Report back to headquarters.”
“I’m on my way,” Lucian said, patting the gun on the seat beside him. He smiled a devilish grin.