“I… ” I looked to Aedan, who had already dropped his head and stared at the ground. Roxanne and her crew all had wry smirks. Would telling the truth help this situation? I doubted it, so I lied. “I’m Coyle, Mr. Murray’s son. I’m not a clone. But, there are many clones of me, clones who can’t wait to kill you all.”
“How will we know who is the clone and who is not if you all look the same?” the man asked.
“Just as I did with Manuel, there will be a special word I’ll give each of you. That way you’ll know it’s me. Ask for the word and if the person who looks like me does not know, run.”
“What do we do now, Coyle?” asked one of the men.
“We’ve got a backlog of operations that Stefan has vetted. Most of you will focus on those for the time being. Those who’ve been watching and protecting our families will continue until we can bring them here for a time. We need a few days to plan on how to move forward. Once the plan is set, Roxanne and her crew leaves, and we carry it out.”
“And if we don’t go along with all this craziness?” one of the men asked.
“You’ll die, not by my hand, but you’re sentencing yourself to death by going out alone.”
“So die if we don’t and likely die if we do.” He waved his hand dismissively at me.
My nerves went on edge. This man threatened everything, the very unity I’d been trying to establish. The anger surged again, a familiar and oddly fulfilling sensation. Anger brought power; I could feel it, I sensed it the people around me. They would bow to me if I let it out, I thought.
I stepped towards the man who in turn stepped back. The men scampered back at the sight of me breathing heavy and eyes wide. The man started running for his car. In two quick strides, I caught up to him, grasped his jacket, and started dragging him back to the crowd.
“Coyle, no! You’re not this person. Stop!” the Doña yelled as I threw the man into the middle of the crowd. Stefan wanted me to send a message. This man’s bloody face would be quite the message.
“Por favor, señor, I meant no disrespect. I’m just worried—”
“Shut up! I’m tired of your babble.” I looked at my men. “Let what I’m going to do to this man squash any thought of dissent.” I came down on his face, breaking his nose and splitting his lip. He collapsed to the ground.
“Coyle, don’t do this!” Aedan yelled. Jamie screamed in horror as I pulled the man up by the shirt to show his busted and bleeding face to my men.
Roxanne and Talon moved toward me, their expressions telling me they wanted to intervene.
“Stay back!” I yelled and waved them away.
“This doesn’t have to happen, Coyle. Remember. Remember,” Coyle’s dad said and slowly approached me. I raised my arm to strike again. “Son, control it. Please.” His voice cut through, and my rage relented ever so slightly. I stumbled back, now seeing the carnage I’d caused. I’d done it; I’d actually succumbed to that murderous urge. My humanity lost once again.
“I’m sorry. I… I’m so sorry.” I started to run back towards the hacienda while the man rolled in pain on the ground.
“Coyle’s outbreak is a side-effect of Somatotech gaining power,” the Doña yelled out. “They must be destroyed before it’s too late.”
Her words halted my escape. “Too late?” I said.
“Before this rage consumes you, my friend.” The eyes of all my friends screamed concern, making me want to just dissolve into the ground.
I collapsed to my knees. “I can’t lead you all. The true leader, the Doña, will lead us.”
The men’s eyes moved to her, anticipating a response. Her eyes shifted to and from each man and back to me.
“I’ll step in for the time being. But, understand this, my men; you’ll obey every order from Coyle as if it were my own.”
Fear crossed their faces, but the majority nodded in agreement.
28 Hail Mary
“Jamie. I…I can’t go on like this. I wanna be like I was, someone normal. Someone whose actions wouldn’t matter, someone who wouldn’t snap. As I was, I could’ve lived on for a few more years, died, and been forgotten. I feel like whatever I do now will affect everyone, especially you.” If only I could be someone normal, like my originator, I thought. I still didn’t have the guts to tell her who I really was.
“You think you dying wouldn’t have affected me?”
“You’d have moved on.” I turned away from her.
She pulled me back, focusing on my eyes. “Move on? Coyle, you’ll be a part of me forever. You have to know that. You’re my one and only.”
The thought that Jamie was my soul mate had bounced in my heart many times, but I’d pushed it out. I knew it was true but hadn’t verbalized it. But, how could we be soul mates? How could a clone have a human soul mate?
I spent the rest of the day in my room with Jamie. I couldn’t bear seeing the men after I beat one of them down because I’d flat-out betrayed their trust. Jamie and I didn’t say much more. Instead, we sat on my bed with locked arms, her head resting on my shoulder.
“I better figure out how to get a message to your dad,” I said.
“I’m coming with you. I’m staying by your side, Coyle, through all of this.”
“So I don’t kill anyone?”
Her silence answered my question. The unpredictability of my outbreaks had returned. Could I kill someone again? I pushed the thought out and moved on to the task at hand. “Let’s go in five minutes. I’ll see you out front.”
She kissed my cheek, squeezed my hand, and then stood to leave. Before she reached the door, I jumped up and turned her at the waist.
“I do need you, not only because I could turn into a crazed murderer at any moment without you, but because I love you.” I gently lifted her chin and gazed into her eyes before landing one on her soft lips.
“I love you, too,” she said and stared into my eyes.
If only I could keep it this way, I thought and gave her a quick hug. We separated so I could prepare. I retrieved two cellphones from the map room and then headed out through the hallway. Stefan caught me on the way out.
“Are you OK my friend?” he asked slowly. Small bags had formed under his eyes.
“Better, yes. How are the men?”
“Spooked, to say the least. But, they’re on board. They respond to fear; that’s why they were so loyal to Manuel.”
“Not the example of leadership I really wanted to use.”
He nodded in recognition and noticed the cellphones in my hand. “Going out? Coyle, you’re all over the news. Do you think it wise to go out in the public?”
“I know, not the best timing. But, somehow I gotta scope out a way to contact the pastor.”
“Come with me.” He turned and walked down the hall to the examination room. I followed and found him opening a tackle box onto the table.
“Sit,” he said and pointed to a stool, “Oh, and hold this.” He handed me a mirror. “What kinda mustache would you prefer?”
“Wha? Uh, facial hair doesn’t seem to grow on this baby face.”
“Well, Coyle, today you become a man.” He pulled out a red bushy mustache and applied an adhesive to the back. He then pressed it to my upper lip.
“Uh, Stefan, I look freakin’ creepy. Could we add a beard?” I said while looking at myself in the mirror.
“Sorry, we don’t have any more red facial hair.” He grinned after taking a long look at me. “Now to do something about your nose.”
“What’s wrong with my nose?”
“Aside from your eyes, the nose is your next most distinguishing feature.” He extracted a floppy flesh-colored nose and held it up to my face. “Quite a distinguished look,” he said, as he adhered it to my face.
I flipped up the mirror and nearly lost it. “Are you freakin’ kidding me? That thing is huge!”
“A strong nose for a strong man. You’ll get used to it.” He returned to the box and found some brown colored contacts. I slipped
them on to my eyes and blinked a few times to lubricate them. Honkin’ nose, creepy mustache, and dark eyes. Nice, very nice, I thought.
I walked out into the hallway and found Aedan and Jamie waiting with wide smiles at the sight of me.
“OK, OK. Get it out,” I said, throwing my head back.
“Dude, where ya headed? The coffee pub? Huh, hipster? All you need are some tight pants.” Aedan smiled and gave the mustache a slight tug.
“C’mon Aedan, I think it’s cute.” She moved in on me but held back by a few inches. I leaned in and her finger made contact instead of her lips. “But, no way are you kissing me with that thing.”
“Ouch!” said Aedan and punched me in the shoulder.
“Rain check then?” I smiled, and the whiskers tickled my nose. “Can’t wait to get this thing off.”
“Oh it doesn’t come off, at least not for a few days,” said Stefan.
“You’re kidding, right?”
“Nope, can’t.” All three of my so-called friends chuckled.
“All right, see ya when I get back, Aedan.” I’d had enough of the revelry.
“For you my dear,” Stefan said and handed Jamie a wig and sunglasses.
“That’s all she needs? While I look like this?”
Stefan grinned and left us there.
Jamie and I made it to a car one of the men had parked in the roundabout. Before we opened the doors, Talon came running out of the hacienda.
“Headed into town?”
“Yeah, scoping out her dad’s church and maybe her home,” I said while opening Jamie’s door.
“Hmm, have you already forgotten what happened to Jamie when you drove her right into cell coverage?”
I had forgotten, or maybe I wanted to forget. Forget what I had brought on her. She’d be under their control the second we got in range of one of the cell towers. “Crap,” I said and rubbed my forehead.
“Roxanne says she’s got something that’ll help. Stop by the guesthouse on your way out.”
“Cool, will do. Thanks, Talon, good to see you up.”
He grinned. “I’m a fighter! What did ya expect?” He flexed his right arm. His neck still bore a circumferential purple bruise.
“Nothing less. See ya in a bit.”
On the way out, we stopped by the guesthouse. Roxanne waited for us near the van. She held a thin black strap and silver box about the size of a Matchbox car.
“Catch,” she said and tossed the box to me through the window.
“What is it?” I said while inspecting the silver box that had only one button.
“Unless you want your girlfriend to go all zombie on you, I suggest you turn it on. That wonder blocks all cellular signals. Wrap it around her arm.” She threw me an antenna with a small screen attached by two wires. “Put that on the dash and flip it on before you get into town, it will tell you if the 5G signal is strong enough to take control.”
“Thanks, Roxanne.”
She looked to Jamie, “Keep him sane, will ya?”
Jamie smiled and winked at Roxanne. I peeled out.
We drove past the pastor’s church looking for a way to deliver the message. Unfortunately, the grounds around the church provided no cover. No trees, bushes or anything else to hide behind. The only structure in the front yard was the marquee sign. I inspected the surrounding properties for a potential lookout to get the pastor’s attention. The dental office to the west would be difficult to infiltrate, as would the homes to the north. A small park to the south had a few large trees, which could provide cover. I looked closer at the trees. A lens shimmered in the light between the branches. I focused on it. A few trees back in the grove a camera the size of a golf ball hung below a branch. I quickly surveyed the buildings again and sure enough, there were at least five covering all angles of the church. No doubt they already had the same array of cameras at his home.
“There are cameras all over,” I whispered to Jamie. I’m not sure why I whispered, it just felt right now that I knew this entire area was under surveillance.
She peeked out the window and searched for the cameras. “I’ll have to take your word on that,” she whispered back. “Do you see my dad?”
“No, his car isn’t here.”
A familiar sound broke my concentration. The sound of metal bearings, polyurethane wheels, and hard metal. There were skaters close. I drove around to the other side of the park and found the small skate park. A few kids were throwing down some weak tricks on the rails and small ollies off a concrete box. I looked around for anyone suspicious or more cameras but found none. These skaters could prove useful, I thought.
I stepped out of the car, flipped up my hood, and jogged across the parking lot to the skate park.
“Hey, hey!” I yelled to one of the skaters. He had a large-brimmed Etnies hat and held an energy drink in one hand.
“What up?” he yelled back.
“Can I have a try?” I motioned to his board.
“Dude, I don’t even know you.”
“C’mon, let me show you a thing or two.”
“You break it you buy me a new one.” He shrugged and kicked the board over to me.
I kicked it to a stop and flipped it into my hand. I walked over to the park, dropped it to the ground and stepped on. As I rolled toward the rail, a distinct sensation of familiarity came over me. The board felt as if it was part of me, as if I’d spent years on it. I ollied onto the rail 50-50 and quickly ollied off. Dang, that felt good, I thought. I pushed off again and kick flipped onto the box and landed manual riding it out all the way back to the skater.
“Who da’ hey are you, dude? Are you sponsored?”
“Nah, man. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to skate anymore. Thanks for the ride.”
“Anytime, dude.” The other guys had come over now.
“Hey, any of you go to that church over there?” I pointed towards the pastor’s church through the trees.
They looked at each other, not wanting to admit if they did.
“If one of you does, I need a favor. And, there’s cash in it for you.”
“My mom makes me go sometimes. What do you need?” said the same skater who’d lent me his board.
I motioned for him to come over, away from the group. When he came close, I whispered, “Just deliver a message to the pastor.”
“A message?”
“A small piece of paper, nothing more. But it needs to be discreet.”
“You mean like all secret?”
“Exactly, find a way to get it to him without anyone seeing.”
“And how much is in it for me?”
“Twenty bucks for each message, sound good?”
“Dang! Sign me up dude.”
“No one else can know, not even your buddies there.” I nodded at the group looking at us. “Tell them I signed you up for some youth group thing at the church. If you get this first message to him without anyone knowing, I’ll think about upping the payment.”
“Gotcha. So when do you want your message delivered?”
“As soon as possible, can you do it today?”
“Deal. So um, how do I get paid?”
“I’ll find you. I promise.”
I took out a small piece of paper and pen and wrote the message, then folded two times.
Denver Seminary 10:05 a.m. Tomorrow. Kitchen. Destroy this after reading.
“See you soon,” I said and handed him the paper.
I rushed back to the car and hopped into the driver’s seat.
“Do you miss that?”
“What?”
“Skating, you know, being normal, doing normal things?”
I stared at the guys skating, and a deep feeling of loss hit my heart. I did miss it. But, how could I? I’d never really done it, other than just now. Coyle had, sure, and Somatotech must’ve put the memories in my head. That’s why I miss it, I thought.
“I do and I don’t,” I said and looked over. Her eyes had a sheen of a recent c
ry. She shed tears of a normal life lost. My heart ached deeply for this girl, for my girlfriend. I couldn’t hold it back any longer; I’d lied too long, and Jamie deserved to know. I rested my hand on her shoulder and inhaled as much air as my lungs could take.
“Jamie, Somatotech created me,” I blurted out.
“What’re you talking about?”
“I’m not supposed to exist, Jamie. I’m, I’m a clone; a clone of your former boyfriend. They stole his life and gave it to me.”
“What?” she said, shaking off my hand.
“It’s true. They trained me, put Coyle’s memories in my mind, put the feelings I have…” I couldn’t finish because of a large lump growing in my throat.
She stared into my eyes and spoke slowly, “That doesn’t make sense.”
“All of this doesn’t make sense. But, it’s the truth. Your dad knows it too.”
“I doubt he believes it.”
“Whether he does or not, it’s the truth. I’m not your boyfriend, at least not your original boyfriend.”
“Stop saying that, you are my boyfriend.” She looked down, gathering her thoughts. “Aedan told me you would come to me with this junk. You’re confused. Somatotech and probably Medital want you to be confused so they can manipulate you.”
“Aedan promised he would wait until I could tell you.” My fists clenched tight.
She came close, her breath tickling my neck and her eyes boring into mine. “Aedan knows who you really are. Just as I do. You are Coyle, the Coyle I met in high school and fell in love with. The Coyle who’s meant to be the one. The one meant to save the world from this evil.” She landed a soft kiss on my cheek.
I opened my mouth to refute her, but her sincerity stayed my tongue. She’ll know the truth someday, and it will crush her. Not today though, I thought.
29 Religious Right
When we got back to the hacienda, the Doña and Stefan had organized the men in single file lines out in the roundabout. Roxanne and her crew were out working on their van, but few of them looked on the group with apparent concern in their eyes.
“What’s going on?” I asked as Jamie and I emerged from the car.
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