He frowned.
“That doesn’t sound too good, does it?”
Marie shrugged and reached for the coffee mug. She took a few careful sips of the hot beverage. Jonathan could see how it made her relax.
”Good?”
She nodded contently.
“Very.”
He rose, walked over to the drawn down curtain and pulled it aside. Radiant sunlight illuminated the room and Marie pulled the blanket over her face.
“You don’t give too much warning to a woman, do you?”
Jonathan laughed.
”Can’t waste such a glorious morning in bed.”
Marie looked lovingly at Jonathan who tied the curtains back and proceeded to fold the clothes that they had, in the grips of passion, strewn on the floor the night before. It looked to shape up to a lovely day outside. The warm sunlight came down from a clear sky.
She was happy. Their relationship was still new, fresh and fragile. She was his immediate superior at the Amber Group. Normally, relationships between employees were forbidden but Nicholas Backmann had made an exception on their behalf. Both were too valuable for Backmann to risk losing any of them.
Marie placed the half-empty coffee mug on the dresser and was about to get out of bed when her phone made a chirping noise. She stopped, rolled over to it and read the message. A few seconds later she sighed.
“Backmann wants us to come in.”
Jonathan picked up the last of her clothes on the floor and placed them on the bed. He rolled his eyes.
“Right now, when we’re having such a good time? That wasn’t much of a vacation.”
She nodded, placed the phone on the dresser and curled back in bed and pulled the blanket over her head.
“Hey, you?”
Jonathan smiled.
“Yes?”
She giggled.
“You can’t find me.”
Jonathan walked slowly to the edge of the bed and sat down. He slid his hand down the contours of the warm blanket and felt her body beneath it.
”I think you’ve got to give me a clue if I should find you.”
She giggled once more when his hand slid over her stomach.
“Warmer.”
He could feel the heat from her body through the textile and he felt lust surging within him. He heard her breathing become heavier as she moved under his touch. Her voice became hoarse.
”Warmer and warmer.”
He gently pulled the blanket and saw her half-open eyes looking straight at him under her tousled hair. He pulled the blanket further and exposed her breasts. The stiff nipples aroused him, and he bent forward and took one in his mouth. She moaned of please and pulled him towards her. The heat between them was like fire and Jonathan quickly removed his clothes. One of his socks got stuck and he haphazardly tried to get it off. Jonathan accidentally bumped into the dresser and the half-full coffee mug fell. Lukewarm coffee splattered on the floor and suddenly they were enveloped in a coffee scent. They stared at each other for a few seconds before they burst into laughter. The sock came off and Marie pulled him into bed. She mounted him, and he looked up at her and thought that if this was not heaven, he did not know what it was.
* * *
The weak, rhythmic sound of the joints in the road when the car passed over them made her drowsy. The thick columns beside the road that held powerfull lights and cameras swished passed them in a slow, even rhythm. Small droplets of contaminated rain hit the front window of the self-driving car and was pushed along it by the moving wind. The last few years, the planet had experienced greater turbulence in the weather than ever before and that include more and more occasions of polluted rain.
Seven years ago, some news sites had started to include forecast and limits to the amount of pollution present in the rain. Most used a standard scale of five that described how long you could be in the rain without any lasting effects. But that was under the prerequisite that nothing of the rain would come into the mouth.
She shook her head and sat up straighter in the passenger seat. She lovingly gazed over at Jonathan who sat next to her and read a report from the Amber Group. They were barely forty kilometers from Paris and made good progress and it would not be long before they would arrive at headquarters. The electronic brain in the black Audi automatically steered passed two large trucks that moved slowly in the right-hand lane. She placed her hand on Jonathan's arm and squeezed it affectionately. He glanced over at her, placed the report in his lap and smiled.
“What are you thinking about?”
Marie nodded at the report in his lap.
“What you are reading?”
He held up the flexible tablet.
“Backmann sent last night. It’s a follow-up report on the status of the two doctors at Tabula Rasa that oversaw the cloning programs there.”
Marie nodded for him to continue.
“Ok, anything interesting?”
He gave her the tablet.
“Yes, quite so. They were placed under guarded house arrest and were forced to cooperate with the authorities after John’s death and they were apparently helpful at first. But three weeks ago, they managed to flee, and they are still at large.”
Marie frowned when she began to read the report.
“And there is no clue to where they are?”
“No, there’s been some tips about where they can be but nothing solid”, he paused, “This is precisely what you warned about would happen.”
Marie nodded while she skimmed the report.
“Yes, looks like it.”
She sat quietly and read through it while they approached the outskirts of Paris and the Amber Group’s headquarters. The rhythmic sound from the road continued. The car automatically turned off at the correct exit from the freeway, slowed down and made a turn onto Rue de Maincourt.
Marie glanced out and saw to her astonishment that they were nearly there. The rain had stopped, and the wet asphalt glittered when the Audis strong headlights illuminated the road. She peered out the window and saw the worn-down factories they passed. It was not the best of neighborhoods, here and there small, semi-legal industries tried to carve out their livelihood in the gray region between criminal activities and the law.
She saw an automatic loader driving up to a huge pile of metallic junk and lower its large scoop with a rattling noise. Marie saw a glimpse of it when the driverless loader slammed into the pile before they drove past. A faint, pungent odor of sulphur penetrated the car and Jonathan wrinkled his nose.
“Cleaning.”
The artificial brain in the car heard his command and adjusted the amount of cleaning of the air that entered the car and Marie could smell how the acrid smell eased. She winked at him
”Home, sweet home.”
She swiped forward the last page of the report.
In summary, there are several scenarios for where Dr. Ln'Geem and Dr. Weng-Li might be. Theories about their place of residence are of varying quality and credibility. However, one scenario is more likely than the others. When the last partially confirmed visual identification and location were at Delhi Indira Gandhi in New Delhi, India, the conclusion must be that scenario four is most likely. Scenario four as mentioned above describes how they are headed for Dr. Weng-Lis sister who currently resides in the mega-complex Flor Fria, outside of Macau. As it is assumed that the doctors are well-versed in medical interventions and surgeries, it is likely that they have already initiated surgery to change or change their appearance, thus hampering detection through Europol's global facial recognition system.
The report ended without further summaries and frustrated Marie rolled up the reading plate and gave it to Jonathan. She sat silent and pondered what she had read. Jonathan interrupted her thoughts.
"What do you think?"
"I told them that both Ln'Geem and Weng-Li have to be held on a short leach. Before even the interrogations with them started, I recommended that both be injected with traceable nano ampoules."
Jonathan nodded slowly.
"How do you think they managed to avoid it?"
Marie scratched her hand and smiled.
"Either there was someone who forgot to confirm the decision that it would be done or maybe someone who forgot to execute the procedure if it was confirmed." She paused before she continued, "Or."
Jonathan frowned and smiled at her.
"Or?"
The rhythmic sound of the road continued.
"Or, there is someone who successfully smuggled both doctors from Tabula Rasa and has a use for themselves."
* * *
The smell of chlorine in the rangy elevator was noticeable. It was a trick that most of Paris had begun to use. The increased occurrences of illegal waste incineration had been more frequent in recent years, and on some days large smog clouds covered the capital. Jonathan shook his head as he walked into the elevator. It was the same problem that London experienced hundreds of years earlier in a couple of stifling days in December 1952. The Londoners had woken up to an unprecedented smog that covered the entire capital.
A special weather system had passed over the city and, along with cold weather, had caused the residents to burn extensively in their coal-fired stoves. This, together with the emissions from industry, had been mixed into a suffocating stench of pollutants. It was estimated that more than four thousand people had died before the weather changed and the smog eased. After that terrible week, the authorities had implemented more stringent requirements for fire and emissions and several different bills to ensure cleaner air were adopted.
Now, a hundred years later, history repeated itself. The global restrictions on diesel and gasoline introduced in Europe had initially given effect, and the largest capitals had also banned all types of combustion vehicles. The environment had become better, but by 2041 a violent hacker attack had changed all that. On a Monday morning in October hackers had, it was still unknown who, hacked millions of cars around the world and taken control of them. The electronic protection barriers and firewalls had been breached and the hackers had gotten direct control over more than a million cars globally.
The result had been complete chaos. The hackers apparently had the goal of generating maximum damage and panic. Cars were given the command to set full speed ahead and ignore surrounding traffic. They were instructed to enter onto bicycle roads and pedestrian streets and continue regardless of the obstacles identified by the car's warning system. Nearly forty-eight thousand people had died or had been injured before the authorities around the world managed to stop the attack.
In the aftermath, the world had been paralyzed. However, in the follow-up cleanup work, it was realized how vulnerable the system was as it was introduced by fully automated vehicles. Sharp demands on car manufacturers had been introduced at record speed, and in some cities, fully automated vehicles were banned.
Marie smiled at Jonathan, leaned forward and kissed him easily on his mouth.
"You were lovely this morning."
Jonathan smiled and drew her closer. He noticed her heat through the thin dress.
"You were pretty lovely yourself." he looked into her eyes and felt the deep connection to her that he had felt almost from the start. He had been both married and had children before Marie, but the marriage had fallen apart when their child tragically had gotten cancer and died.
The guilt about having met someone like Marie who managed to penetrate his emotional armor sometimes bubbled up to the surface. Not so much now as before, but sometimes he had to force himself to allow himself to move on after what had happened. The past would always be as it were, he would never succeed in changing it. After his daughter's death, he had become addicted to analgesic tablets, Oxycodone, and with Marie's help, he had managed to stop. He could still feel the craving for it, but he had managed to control it.
What had happened had happened and, despite everything, he could not influence it. But he could influence his future. And he had a second chance of happiness through Marie. The fact that Marie was his immediate boss was indeed a complicating circumstance, but it was nothing he would let stand in their way.
The elevator stopped softly, and the doors opened. Jonathan waited for Marie to exit the elevator and followed her down the passage. The walls were clad in metal and a narrow, bright light on the roof spread a cold shine. The smell of chlorine subsided, and they continued through to another metal door. A wall-mounted camera swept over them and the door slid silently aside. Their steps echoed faintly on the metal floor.
They entered an oval room with wood paneling on the walls and a large desk in front of the door Jonathan and Marie went through. Inside the door stood a woman with a wide smile. Dolores Lee was the Amber Group’s receptionist and had an outstanding ability for gossip. What Dolores did not know about the Amber Group members was not worth knowing. She liked good food and her appearance was not fat but more curvaceous as with some women could accentuate the female forms. Her dark, thick hair flowed from side to side when she spoke. She opened her arms towards them.
”Hey, you lovebirds.”
Jonathan stopped. Marie ignored him, walked over to Dolores and gave her a big hug.
“Hey Dolores, how’s it going?”
Dolores' eyes gleamed.
“Pretty darn good, if I may say so myself”, she paused, “I’ve met someone.”
Marie gave Dolores another hug.
“You have? God, that’s good for you.”
Dolores released Marie and went over to Jonathan and gave him a bear hug. When she held him close, she whispered.
“It’s ok, Backmann has told me about you and Marie.”
Jonathan blinked and was not sure how to respond. Before he had thought of anything to say, Marie had already placed her arm on Dolores' shoulders and led her away from Jonathan while they chatted. Dolores and Marie effortlessly talked about everything between heaven and earth while Jonathan tentatively followed them. They came to yet another, metal-colored, door and stopped.
“How’s the boss, everything ok?”
Dolores shrugged.
“Actually both. There’s some commotion regarding those doctors that were involved with the cloning programs”, she looked over at Jonathan and smiled, “And then there’s the cooperation with the treasure hunters that have experienced some bumps.”
Jonathan stared blankly at her.
”Treasure hunters? Who are they?”
Dolores smiled and touched Jonathan's arm. Her long artificial nails were painted in a kind of shimmering color that was hypnotic. He blinked when Dolores laughed.
"I think it’s better the boss himself tells you."
As on a given command, the door opened, and a gray-haired man stood behind his large desk and walked around it towards them.
"Marie, Jonathan, come in, come in."
Dolores smiled again, spun around and left them. Marie and Jonathan entered Nicholas Backmann's office and the door closed behind them.
Nicholas Backmann was both Marie's direct manager and head of the Amber Group. The group was his creation and they had named the Amber Group after their first successful mission, the re-capture of the famous Amber Room. In 1716, Vilhelm had given the Amber Room as a gift to the Russian Tsar Peter the Great. But during World War II, the room was disassembled and disappeared for many years before the Amber Group succeeded in locating it two years earlier. The first successful mission was the start of their group, and now the Amber Group operated in the gray twilight zone dealing with lost archaeological artifacts. For the right price and with the right contacts, you could hire the Amber Group to help reclaim any lost treasure.
Backmann shook hands with both and showed them in. Backmann's hands and face were weathered and revealed his great love for the ocean and sailing. Jonathan had heard the rumor that Backmann once sailed a 30-foot sailboat alone from Gibraltar to Stockholm and Jonathan had made some discreet inquiries to check if it was true. Jonathan had been able to get hold of a source that sent
him two photographs showing a young Backmann setting sail in a sailboat in what looked like a smaller port. On the back of the photograph, someone had written "Captain Backmann berth Fredshällshamnen May 2031".
Backmann gestured for them to take a seat in two, narrow leather chairs while he sat down in a third. A fire crackled in the fireplace and the thick carpets softened all sounds in the room and the small, green-gold colored wall lights gave the wooden cladded room a warm embrace.
“Thank you for coming so quickly.”
Marie and Jonathan nodded. Backmann usually did not have much to talk to and he did not deny himself. He continued while pushing a button on a remote control. The arched holo-shield hanging on one wall turned on. Two holograms came forward.
"We were notified by the Japanese authorities four hours ago. Both Ln'Geem and Weng-Li have been identified on one of the smaller airports outside of Macau with ninety-two percent security."
Marie lit up.
"Macau, I knew it."
Jonathan glanced admiringly at her.
"You were right. They are on their way to Weng-Lis sister."
Backmann waved his hand over the remote control. The floating hologram of the two doctors changed to a woman's face. Backmann started to read aloud from the text that scrolled past her face.
"Her name is Noshimi, 33 years old, suffering from a variety of serious disease states. Anorectic, bi-polar, paranoid, but also intelligent." When she was eighteen, she completed an intelligence test and according to that her IQ is around 142. "
Jonathan studied the weary woman’s face in front of them. Tousled hair hung down and partially concealed the woman's eyes. The dark eyes and lips were a bit too big for the pale face and gave it a spooky look.
"She does not look too well."
Marie rolled her eyes.
"So delicate."
Jonathan shrugged when Backmann continued.
Weng-Li and Noshimi grew up with their dominant mother and sick father. Weng-Li, who has about the same intelligence ratio, took his refuge to the medical world, but Noshimi did not have the same luck. Her psyche seems to be more fragile than her brother’s and she went in and out at different treatment homes during the greater part of their upbringing. "
Genesis Page 6
