“We’ll just have to convince him,” Daniel said, starting the engine. “We can’t waste another moment. I’m going to take our chances by parking near the alley. We only have the one handgun. Somebody needs to stay on the lookout for Kathleen and warn me on my cellphone. Mellie, if you’re really the better shot, maybe you should take my gun, while Allie stays in the car.”
“No, Daniel,” Allie immediately stated. “It needs to be me seeing him. If it’s Mellie, Jake’s less likely to come with us, as opposed to being a hero.”
“Allie, that doesn’t even make sense,” Mellie said. “He won’t even believe that I’ve actually escaped from Jennifer unless I’m standing right there in front of him, with a gun in my hand.”
“I know Jake! You don’t!” Allie snapped.
You’re playing games with yourself, Allie thought in the next instant. You don’t want Jake to dump you for Mellie. That’s the real reason you want her to stay in the car. You already know she’s better for Jake than you are.
“Allie and I are going into McBitch’s headquarters. Mellie, you’ll need to stay out of sight.” In the background, Jennifer’s voice greeted Jake, just as Daniel continued, “I’ll try to—”
“Wait!” Mellie said, holding up her hand and staring at the speaker in Daniel’s door. “Listen!”
“Lookie what I have,” Jennifer was saying.
“What?” Jake asked her.
“It’s the prototype from Li Chen’s lab. Just now delivered via a private carrier. It’s time to play ball, Jake.”
Chapter 27
“Oh, damn it!” Allie cried. “What crappy timing! We have a plan. We can get Jake out without letting him risk his life!”
“It’s going to take me at least an hour to make sure the readings are correct on all of the prongs,” Jake said to Jennifer. “I assume you got the electronic tester out of my office before the police shut down ABTC.”
“Of course. It’s in a cabinet in the operating room. But an hour is excessive. We’re talking about twelve prongs, and it takes all of five seconds to display the readings.”
“This is a new design, and we’re rushing it into a Beta test. I want to exercise all-due caution.”
“Hmm. You look worried,” Jennifer told him. “Are you having second thoughts regarding the quality of your work?”
“Not at all. What you’re picking up on is guilt on my part, and fear on Eric’s part.”
“You feel guilty for killing off a juvenile delinquent like Eric? His body gets to live on with your brain. You’re doing him a favor!”
“Everyone who isn’t you realizes that I have trespassed on the man in the most heinous form imaginable,” Jake snarled.
They were driving past the alley. There was no place to park, short of double parking.
“Crap! I’m not going to be able to park within two blocks!” Daniel grumbled, drowning out Jake saying something to Jennifer about needing to clear his head.
“Hush,” Allie said, holding up her hand and staring at the radio, as if that could help her listen more effectively
“Very well, Jake,” Jennifer said. “I’ll give you two a few minutes alone. Let the turd say goodbye, while you say good riddance. Come to the operating room when you’re ready.”
“Fine. I’m just going to step outside for a minute,” Jake said. “Then I’ll test the circuitry.”
“This will have to do,” Daniel said as he parked near an intersection. Just the tail end of the car was within a no-parking zone.
Over the sound system was the sound of a door being shut. A few moments later, there were rustling noises and heavy breathing as if Jake was running. Then there was a noise that sounded like somebody retching.
“Is Jake...vomiting?” Allie asked, surprised and alarmed.
“Allie? Daniel?” Jake said quietly. “If you’re listening, I’m sorry about that. I’m a little nervous...and lost my lunch. I’m in the alley, where I can speak freely, even if Jennifer bugged her office.”
Allie clenched her fists, frustrated at how nearly they’d missed seeing him.
“Undergoing the procedure will give me a pretty bad headache,” Jake continued, “and I can be a real wuss sometimes. No matter what happens, Allie, I love you. Daniel, you’ve been a rock. I’m grateful that we worked out our differences, before it was too late. Thanks for everything. I’ve got one last request for you, though. If you can find Mellie, grab her and all three of you should relocate. Work up some new IDs, and start fresh in another city. If you can’t free Mellie, call the police. Charge Suzanne with kidnapping. But most importantly, take care of one another. I have to get rid of my microphone now, or it’s going to wreck my MEG scans. So I’m leaving it out here in the back alley. Bye, guys.”
Allie and Daniel locked gazes. “What the hell was that about?” Allie asked.
“He could just be anxious because of the procedure,” Mellie suggested. “Right?”
“I don’t think so,” Allie said, feeling a little woozy with fright. “Something’s up. It sounded to me like he’s saying goodbye, for good.”
Daniel cursed under his breath. “The day before yesterday, he told me he felt like he’d lost fifty IQ points.” Daniel pulled out an envelope from a pocket in his jeans. He rotated in his seat to face Allie. “He gave me this, when we were packing up our stuff and checking out of the Benson. He told me to give it to you, but he made me swear that, no matter what, I would wait until after he’d undergone the procedure. It’s been burning a hole in my pocket ever since.”
“You haven’t read it?” Allie asked.
“No. But I think you’d better, just in case.”
With trembling hands, Allie ripped open the envelope and removed the letter, which was handwritten on “Benton Inn” stationery.
My Dearest Ellie,
All I’ve wanted is for you and me to be happy. By now you probably know that Li Chen and I verified some time ago that it is not possible to erase the hosts’ memories; my invention can merely erase some of the original download—not the host’s memories—from certain brain lobes. Therefore, there was no point in instructing Dr. Chen to create a pressure switch.
Allie gasped, and her eyes filled with tears. She struggled to continue reading.
Instead, I have instructed Dr. Chen to produce a chip that will retrace the original download’s brain map and shorten the lifespan of those memories, even while it temporarily intensifies the newly downloaded memories—by virtue of storing them in the pre-frontal lobe–the short-term memory portion of the brain.
The good news is that means I won’t have erased my memories from the last eight months. The bad news is, the device will destroy many of my brain cells, thereby rendering myself useless to Jennifer. Also, as soon as the new device is secured on the back of the patient’s skull, it will destroy the original device that will have been piggy-backed onto it.
In a sense, this is like intentionally giving myself Alzheimer’s at age 23. Ironically, my desire to cure that hideous disease was the lone reason I entered the field of neurology. Yet I have no choice. I can’t continue to live as Jake-Eric, as you so accurately called me. Even if I can’t convince the Jennifers to use the device on themselves, I’m certain that they’ll use it on somebody, which will destroy her brain flash-drive. At the very least, I will have prevented another me and another Jennifer from being foisted onto the universe. (In my expert opinion, there could never be enough Ellie Montgomeries in the world.)
I’m sorry to have deceived you, Ellie. This was the very last thing I wanted. With you by my side, I would have become a better man. But now that Eric is overtaking me, I can only do one more truly good deed: I can tell you once again that Daniel loves you, and that he is the better man. Please, Ellie. Choose to be happy.
With all my love, now and always,
Jake
“Oh, my God!” Allie cried, swiping the tears from her eyes. “Daniel! He’s letting Jennifer turn him into Eric and destroy his beautiful brai
n! We have to stop him!” She realized then that Daniel had been reading over her shoulder.
“He’s sacrificing himself.” Daniel blurted out a four-letter word. “He conned me into designing the circuitry without ever telling me it wasn’t actually going to work! If I’d had any idea he was up to this, I would never have let him go to McBitch’s lab.”
“Can I see the letter?” Melissa asked.
So distraught she could barely think straight, Allie handed it to her. “Maybe we can still talk Jake out of this,” Allie said to Daniel. “Can you hack into Jennifer’s...into Suzanne’s computer so that she’ll see Jake’s original MEG scan when she tries to see the results of a current scan that she’s running?”
He shook his head. “I don’t have powerful enough computers or enough time to pull that off. It’s just not an option.”
“What about contacting Dr. Chen? Get him to stop—” She smacked her head with the heel of her hand. “Jennifer’s already got the device. We should have thought of these options days ago, when this first started.”
“It isn’t like we’ve been sitting around playing computer games with our free time,” Daniel countered.
Allie sighed to keep herself from screaming.
“She didn’t mean that as a slam on you, Daniel,” Mellie said quietly.
Allie glanced back at Mellie. She was huddled against the car door, staring out the window. “You okay?”
Mellie shook her head. “I feel like this is all my fault.”
“No, it—”
“I know it’s actually Jennifer’s doing,” she interrupted. “But I’ve done nothing to help. I’ve only served as Jennifer’s pawn to lure you into worse and worse situations.”
“I’m so sorry,” Allie said. “I know how hard that is.”
“This talk isn’t getting us anywhere,” Daniel declared. He grabbed his gun from the glove box and, per usual, stuffed it into his waistband. “Allie, let’s go. Mellie, you’re going to stay in the car and listen to us on the sound system. If you hear us say that Kathleen’s there, and if we’re in obvious trouble, you’re going to call nine-one-one. Okay, Mellie?”
“Okay. And if I see Kathleen heading toward the building, I’m going to run her down.”
Daniel and Allie started to head toward the building on foot in silence. A block away, Daniel stopped and turned toward her. He looked stricken.
“What’s the matter?” she asked.
“You should stay with Mellie. It’s too dangerous.”
“No. If you go in alone, you’ll be outmanned. And Jake won’t listen to a word you say.”
Their eyes met, and Allie could tell he realized she was right. Jake said, “I love you every bit as much as Jake does. But, please don’t think I was sabotaging his invention. I love the guy. I was a stupid, desperate kid when I tried to spare myself from paying the price when our business venture went upside down. I’d never do anything like that again.”
“I know, Daniel.”
Daniel’s radiant blue eyes were staring into hers with an intensity that made her feel weak in the knees. She was already telling herself that the loss of Jake’s love was a foregone conclusion. In that moment, she realized her and Daniel’s relationship probably wouldn’t survive this much trauma, either. She desperately wanted to kiss him, afraid that this could be her only opportunity. Doing so would only make her feel worse. She averted her eyes.
Daniel wrapped his arms around her and held her close to his chest. She could hear his heart beating.
“He’s never going to love me again,” Allie said. “No matter what we say or do, he’ll believe that our only chance is to get Jennifer to use the new device after she’s seen that it appears to have worked on him.”
He held her in silence for a lingering moment. “Choose me, Ellie,” Daniel whispered in her ear.
“I can’t. My feelings for you are too intertwined with my feelings for Jake. Unless we stop him, I’ll always remember how Jake killed off his own brain to protect Mellie and me. And sooner or later, I’m going to resent every minute of my life.” She knew that Mellie was in the car, listening to their every word. Maybe if she was the only one of them to survive whatever was about to happen, that would be a comfort.
She took a step back. As they gazed in each other’s eyes, she sensed that Daniel knew that she was thinking about Mellie listening to them. Without saying another word, they continued on their way and reached the building.
“Ready?” Daniel asked her. She nodded.
Daniel pushed open the door and pulled out his handgun. They entered a dimly lit room. It looked like a storage area. They made their way to the next door. It was locked, but a moment later, it clicked open.
“Jennifer must have a camera on us,” Allie whispered.
Daniel gestured with his chin at an overhead camera. “Let’s keep going.” He opened the next door and led the way. Allie heard the sound of running water. Daniel had stopped and pointed his gun just as Allie followed him through the doorway. Jennifer was standing there, washing her hands in a sink as if in preparation for performing a surgery.
She caught Allie’s eye and said, “Old habits,” jerking her chin to the sink tap, which she turned off with her elbow. “This is hardly a surgery, after all.”
After drying her hands, she turned toward them, eyeing Daniel’s gun, which was aimed at her. “Would it be too mundane to say that we’ve been expecting you?”
“We have Melissa now,” Allie said. “And we have enough evidence to lock you up for life.”
“We’re taking Jake, and we’re leaving,” Daniel stated.
“You’re bluffing.”
“They might not be,” said a voice behind them. Allie whirled around. It was Kathleen, standing in the doorway. She, too, had a gun in her hand, currently pointed at the floor. “But I’m about to call them on it, even so. Do you see that little girl on the poster about sunscreen?” Kathleen asked.
“I saw it when I came in,” Daniel said, not moving his aim or his gaze from Jennifer.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kathleen turned, aimed, and shot at the poster. Allie looked at the picture. There was a bullet hole in the middle of the girl’s head.
Kathleen swiveled back around and aimed at Allie. “Do you really want to challenge me to a duel, Daniel? I can shoot both you and Allie in the head before you can fire a single shot.”
Daniel hesitated for a beat or two, then lowered his weapon.
“Good decision,” Jennifer One said. “Put your gun on the floor, and slide it toward me with your foot.”
Allie heard a loud bang from the hallway. An instant later, Jake rushed into the room. “Put your gun down, Kathleen,” Jake said. “Otherwise, I’m leaving. You won’t have anyone to test your prototype on.”
“You’ll stay put, Jake, or I’ll shoot Allie and Daniel,” Kathleen countered.
Daniel aimed at Kathleen again.
“Both of you put your guns away,” Jennifer said. “We all want the same thing. We want Jake’s invention to work so that we can make the best out of the lives that we’ve got right now.”
Allie looked at Jake, knowing that his definition of the prototype should “work” was the opposite of Jennifer’s.
“Right,” Jake said. “We’re going to do this thing, then both of you Jennifers are going to leave us alone and never contact us again. That and that alone is our agreement.” He shifted his gaze between the two Jennifers.
Kathleen lowered her gun, and a second later, Daniel lowered his. They turned on the safeties, and they both tucked their weapons in their waistbands behind their backs.
If Allie hadn’t been petrified, the resemblance to a movie-western standoff might have been entertaining. She heard Jake sigh with relief, but she felt as anxious as ever. His invention was a ticking time bomb. She had to stop him from using it, without tipping off Jennifer that the device wasn’t going to erase Suzanne from her brain.
“What the hell are you guys doing here?�
�� Jake barked at them.
Allie could only gaze at him, yearning for him to be the Jake she knew and loved.
“Allie got a CD from Croft that details Jennifer’s entire fountain-of-youth scheme,” Daniel explained, “along with all of her crimes against humanity for the past year.” He narrowed his eyes at Jennifer One. “If Jennifer as much as lays a finger on any of us from now on, the police will know precisely who’s behind it. Furthermore, we found Mellie. She’s waiting for us in the car. By now, the Albany police have had the chance to analyze all of the evidence that Mark Jones collected from Jennifer’s computer. It’s over. We’re here to bring you home with us, Jake.”
Jennifer laughed. “You’re blowing smoke, Daniel. As far as the police and the rest of the world are concerned, I died of cancer in January. If you weren’t such great eye candy, I’d have urged my Kathleen version to go ahead and shoot you. But, by all means, go on back to your little friend, Melissa. You, too, Allie. Jake can decide for himself if he trusts his design enough to want to use it on himself, or he can leave it with me.”
Allie was so surprised, she had to stifle a gasp. Jennifer was actually giving them the option of leaving, despite all the energy she’d put into getting them here, in her lab.
Daniel looked at Jake. “You heard her. Come on. Let’s go.”
“Please, Jake, let’s go,” Allie said, grabbing his hand and pulling him toward the door. “Let’s live to fight another day.”
Jake yanked his hand free from her frasp. “It isn’t over. It never will be. Not unless I see this through and get rid of Eric and Suzanne, and Kathleen.”
“Right, Jake. So let’s get this over with right now,” Jennifer said. “Jake, I’ve got your brain flash-drive right here.” Jennifer reached into the pocket of her white jacket and held up the circular device that Allie instantly recognized. Her mouth and throat immediately felt bone dry in her fright.
Mind Echoes (Book 2 in the Body Shifters Trilogy) Page 20
