by K. C. Sivils
“Gathering data is wise. I will request a meeting. Shall I dry you now?”
“Please,” Markeson responded lost in thought. Unsettled by Jennifer’s behavior, he decided not to talk to his home’s A.I. again until he returned that evening. With Sullivan gone he might actually have to do some work at the precinct. There was also the weekly lunch meeting with Governor Rankin and Mayor Xue to discuss their joint ventures. It would be a busy day.
THE DOOR TO THE MEDICAL facility jumped open as I approached.
Warden Corona hurried to greet me as I stormed in.
“Inspector, I’m glad...”
I brushed by the man, ignoring him. A nurse paled as I approached and hurriedly opened another door and motioned for me to follow her.
“Sullivan, look here, you and your people just can’t go barging around places. This is a prison!”
“Drop it, Warden. Sarah better be okay.”
I spotted the little minx tugging on her coat with an orderly who foolishly didn’t want her to have it. Josephson, who was sitting next to the examining table Sarah was perched on stood up and moved a step or two away. He’d recognized the look on her face and decided a little space would be a good idea.
“I would let the officer have her coat unless you want to be embarrassed,” I informed the misguided orderly.
Startled, he let go. Sarah slipped off the examining table and quickly put her great coat on. She patted all the pockets and hiding places; all the while glaring at the orderly while making sure all of her possessions were where she’d left them.
“Are you okay?” I looked at Sarah, giving her a visual once over from head to toe and back. Other than what looked like what would turn into a black eye, she looked no worse for wear.
“I look better than her.”
“Her? Who are you talkin’ about?”
Warden Corona made his unwelcome presence known again. “About that Inspector, could I have a word with you in private please?”
I glared at the man, pouring every ounce of mean spirited resolve and menace I could into my eyes. He swallowed once and stepped back.
“Please, Inspector. It is important.”
I waved the man off and turned to Josephson. “They treatin’ Sarah right?”
He nodded, watching the warden with suspicion.
“I’m okay Sully. I need to talk in private with you,” she whispered.
“Out,” I ordered. “Everyone.”
“Look here,” Corona sputtered.
I turned and pointed at the door. The cute little nurse had already vanished. The orderly and the prison doctor were already moving in the correct direction. Josephson stood staring at the warden.
“Josephson.”
He got my drift.
"Warden, this way, please. It's for the best."
I grinned as the pup grabbed the warden by the arm and jerked him towards the exit, letting the man know I was the boss.
Sarah watched the door until it shut before looking me. Tears began to fill those big, brown pools she called eyes.
“I found her.”
TAPPING ON THE RETURN button, Bones focused on the screen as data and images scrolled past. Finding what he was looking for, he clicked on an icon, pulling up an expanded view. Another click and the image he’d taken from the autopsy of the dead C.O. came up. He fiddled with the computer for a moment and then turned on his 3-D hologram projector.
Two separate images appeared, hovering above his monitor. Bones aligned the images with the mouse, clicked and then leaned forward as they merged. Squinting as he reached for his old-fashioned eyeglasses, Bones leaned forward to get a closer look.
Slipping on the eyeglasses, Bones rotated the 3-D hologram, noting minute differences between the image of Evans and the reference image.
“Computer, save. File Evans X-2. My eyes and voice only.”
One click of the mouse and the entire display vanished. Bones leaned back and thought for a moment. Leaning forward again, he began typing using his one finger hunt and peck method.
“Computer,” he whispered. “Run this simulation. Use the data and images from the file Chekov. Calculate the probability of this scenario. Suggest alternative possibilities.”
It took the computer less than ten seconds to do the calculations and list possible alternatives.
Bones leaned back in his chair and scratched his head. “Computer, save. File Chekov X-2. My eyes and voice only.”
He thought about what he'd found for a moment, stood and walked over to the window of his apartment. Pulling back the thick, heavy, insulated drape, Bones peered out into the city street below. Snow was starting to fall, and the pedestrians below hurried about their business in the bitter, harsh cold.
“Computer, raise the security protocol for my home to level five.”
Sitting down in his chair, Bones picked up his tablet. He checked the weapon Sully had given him months ago as he reclined to take in the news of the day.
Talking to nobody but himself, Bones spoke aloud. “Sullivan, get off that moon. This is one clever killer.”
I LOOKED AT THE WOMAN in the interrogation room. Corona stood next to me fuming. It was an act. He was terrified. Sarah had stumbled on something she shouldn't have, and the Warden had no way of explaining Ellie's presence away.
“I can’t allow you to interrogate her.”
“You can’t stop me.”
“This is my prison.”
“She’s a clone.”
I let that hang in the air for a moment.
“You have no proof,” was the best Corona could do in response.
“I have all the proof I need.”
“They just have an uncanny resemblance Inspector.”
“Then why was she hidden away? That facility is off the books.”
Corona’s face paled at the phrase “off the books.”
"Okay, okay. We run a black site for Alliance intelligence. Okay? Somebody has to do it, and the Alliance keeps cutting my funds. This is not a cheap facility to run.”
Corona might be telling the truth, or he might not, but I didn’t buy it.
I opened the door and entered before he could say a word in protest. I was getting tired of the man.
“Hello,” the clone answered, smiling pleasantly. The marks on her face and hands indicated Sarah had given more than she’d taken in their fight.
“I don’t appreciate you attacking my assistant.”
“I don’t appreciate my sister walking free while I rot in an underground prison.”
I didn’t like this version of Sarah.
“Sarah’s been looking for you since I’ve known her.”
“Not that hard it would seem.”
“You’ve got some nerve little girl.”
Ellie smiled and brushed a stray strand of long brown hair from her eyes.
"You mustn't get mad at us so easily, Inspector. We were engineered in part to be the way we are, more nature than nurture I suppose."
I didn't say anything. I didn't trust Ellie after what she'd done, but for Sarah's sake, I needed to learn, to understand what drove the two of them if it was possible. There was more going on here than just the two murders.
“You know,” Ellie said thoughtfully, looking away, “we’re savants, all three of us. Well, the two of us now I should say.”
“Since Maria’s gone,” I said.
“Yes, of course. Maria.” Ellie smiled wistfully at the mention of the dead clone, the identical sister she’d shared with Sarah.
“Maria was simple, but she was a savant. People thought because Maria was simple minded she wasn’t special, but she was. Has Sarah told you about Maria?”
“A little,” I admitted.
“She could dance. From the day we came out of the tanks until the day...well, you know all too well,” Ellie reminded me. “Any form of dance, it didn’t matter. Maria only needed to see it once and hear the music. Ballet was her best though. Maria could move hardened killers to tears
."
Ellie fell silent, smiling as she thought about Maria. I didn't say a word. I was too busy trying not to let the old feelings of guilt rise and consume me.
“Sarah’s a savant as well, but not in ways people would think of.” Ellie’s face changed, a frown of sorts crossing her face. “I’m sure you’re well aware extreme climate doesn’t impact Sarah like most humans, that she can hide in plain sight?”
“Yeah, I know,” I answered. There was no point in not doing so. “Sarah can change her age in front of you too.”
Laughter burst out of Ellie, filling the room with mirth. “Oh, yes, is she twenty or is she thirty-five? The jokes on the men who try to figure that one out! We both know Sarah’s six!”
I flinched. Something about Ellie’s laughter was unnatural, just mean spirited in a way that I couldn’t put my finger on but I could sense it nonetheless.
“Oh, come now, Inspector, don’t look at me like that. All three of us were born knowing men desired us that way. Poor Maria, she just didn’t understand the dangers that come with being beautiful, nor did she understand what a weapon beauty can be for a woman when used properly.”
I sat in silence, liking Ellie less by the second. She sighed and looked away at the wall again, letting seconds pass.
“It’s hard to believe, but Sarah can dance almost as well as Maria could. It’s just not her thing, I suppose. Sarah likes to wander about. Gets her in trouble sometimes it does,” Ellie said absentmindedly.
“Sarah’s real gift is she’s got a sixth sense. She can find people who don’t want to be found. Find things that shouldn’t be found. Even worse, my sister knows things she shouldn’t sometimes just by seeing something. More of a curse really than a gift, but bless her heart, it’s the way they designed my sister.”
I felt conflicted. I didn't trust Ellie, but I wanted to learn her secrets, especially the secrets about Sarah. I remained silent, letting silence fill the room, forcing Ellie to talk in order to fill the void.
“Can you believe there are people who want us for our organs,” Ellie suddenly announced, changing the direction of the conversation. “Sarah is the ultimate recon soldier, the ultimate infiltrator if you want to think of her that way. Can you imagine the price she would bring on the open market? Mercenary companies, the Alliance, the Confederation, even the Caliphate, their militaries would pay top credits for her. Corporations who conduct industrial espionage, yes, they would all pay a handsome sum to purchase my sister.”
“What about you,” I asked, sensing a chance to gain a glimpse into Ellie’s psyche.
“That’s a good one,” she snorted. “There are lots of people who want me just for my organs too. Sarah and I had several very nasty genetic diseases engineered out of us and genetic immunity to others designed in.”
“Your template. Sarah mentioned that to me once.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Ellie answered, brushing the idea off nonchalantly, frowning at me as she did so.
"I'm not a dancer by the way," she spat out, her voice inflection indicating a degree of irritation with me somehow.
"Forgive me," I replied, bowing my head slightly, sensing an opening. "My apologies. If your sisters are savants, it would be logical to conclude you are as well."
“Indeed it would be logical.”
“Would you care to share with me your special talent?”
My subject fell back into silence, considering my request carefully, as if she’d changed her mind about telling me. I thought it strange considering seconds earlier Ellie was irritated I’d not asked sooner.
"I guess I might as well tell you," she finally said. "You'll just ask Sarah if I don't, and she'll try to play my abilities down, make herself look like better than she really is. It's childish, but then again, Sarah is a child."
A sense of indignation ran through me. I should let the comment pass, but I couldn’t. “I would say Sarah’s childlike nature suits her. It’s nice to see somebody view the world with the same fascination as a child. Besides, isn’t a bit like the kettle calling the pot black, you’re six years old too.”
“It’s annoying is what it is,” Ellie snapped back, crossing her arms across her chest. “We’re not normal humans. People have wanted to own us, kill us, harvest us for our organs, and use us for sex. You name it. We have to worry about it. Being childish doesn’t help matters!”
“Perhaps, it’s how Sarah deals with things,” I said defensively.
“Humph. It’s a nuisance is what it is, not to mention dangerous.” Ellie fidgeted, tapping the fingers of her right hand on her left elbow. She raised her right eyebrow before tilting her head slightly to the left and glaring at me.
“I see patterns,” she volunteered. “In numbers, data, nature, markets, things like that. I have no idea how I do it. If I did, I would write a book and sell it so I could be free. I can break codes, encryptions, if there’s a pattern, I’ll eventually see it.”
“That’s a valuable skill,” I said evenly, wondering why Ellie seemed to resent her sister. "More valuable even than Sarah's skills," I offered, hoping to encourage Ellie to talk a bit more.
"Of course it is. Maria was simple minded, so it was a blessing she could dance. It made her happy. Other than spying, or thieving, if there's a difference, what good are Sarah's skills? Tell me! But seeing patterns, that's special! Do you know how much money I can make in financial markets? Do you? It's not gambling when I pick stocks or bonds. Just name your investment vehicle, and I'll make you some serious money."
I sat in silence, taking in everything about Ellie and her manic manner of talking. Sarah’s sister had yet to answer the one question I needed a response for.
"Tell me, Ellie, why did you attack Sarah?"
Ellie shot daggers at me with her eyes. "She's my sister, of course, we fight, Inspector. It's called sibling rivalry."
CHAPTER TEN
“WE CAN’T LEAVE HER,” Sarah protested. "We can, and we are," I said with as much bluntness as I could.
Sarah stopped, crossed her arms and stomped her foot.
“Now is not the time to act your age,” I snapped.
“Sully, you just can’t leave Ellie. I just found her.”
“She attacked you.”
Sarah shrugged, her defiance slipping away from her. I counted to ten to control my tongue.
"Somebody put Ellie here. If we move her, whoever that somebody is will come looking for Ellie. That means they might find you."
I said it as softly as I could. Didn't stop the fact my words hit Sarah as if I'd struck her with my clenched fist.
“I can’t leave Ellie.”
"You can, and you are. Whoever tucked Ellie away here thinks she's safe and under lock and key. Better for your sister to be hidden here until we can figure this thing out."
“Ellie will hate me if we leave her.”
I thought for a bit before speaking. “My impression is Ellie doesn’t like you that much right now.”
I hated myself as soon as I said it.
WATCHING THE TALL MAN dressed in black move with ease through the cons as they ate in the cafeteria stressed Warden Gravestone. Cons seldom let a stranger wander freely in their eating space without causing a problem.
The fact this priest was part of Sullivan’s group, even if unofficially, was worrisome. The man’s clerical collar might cause the cons to talk about things they would ordinarily be tight lipped about.
After a moment’s consideration, Gravestone changed her mind. The cons would try to manipulate the priest, see what they could get from him. There was something about this man that made him different.
Motioning for the sergeant on duty, Gravestone waited for the veteran guard. “Sergeant, that priest, there’s something unusual about him.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“Why are the inmates behaving? Normally, a stranger like this man would be a source of chaos.”
Raising his eyebrows in surprise, the sergeant looked at the assistant warden. �
�You can’t tell?”
Gravestone shot a hateful look at the man.
Unfazed, the sergeant smiled. “He’s a killer, like them. His body language just oozes the fact he can handle himself in a fight.”
Puzzled, Gravestone considered the guard’s comment.
“Then why is he a priest? Why isn’t he in prison?”
Losing interest in the conversation, the guard spoke in a bored tone. "He's ex-military, like a lot of your guards. Bet if you checked his arms you'd find a tattoo to the effect."
Father Nathan moved from table to table, smiling as he greeted the cons, shaking hands and listening. Gravestone noticed her sergeant was correct. The priest moved with the ease and grace of a predator, not unlike some of the most dangerous criminals housed in Graham.
Something caught the Father's attention. He patted his pocket and pulled out his comm and listened, nodding. Placing the comm back in his pocket the priest waved goodbye to the two cons he’d been talking to and quickly made his way towards the cafeteria’s exit.
THE GOOD FATHER WAS the last to arrive at our quarters. A teary-eyed Sarah sat on her bunk next to her bag. Josephson leaned against the wall, all of his gear packed and ready to go.
“We’re leaving,” I told Father Nathan. He nodded. I noticed he held his single, small bag.
I led the way out of the dorm. Sarah followed with the pup right behind. I trusted Father Nathan to cover our rear as we made our way to the prison spaceport. It took less than ten minutes to arrive, catching the guards at the airlock off guard.
“Uh, sir, there isn’t a shuttle scheduled to leave,” the older of the two guards said, standing up and adjusting his uniform.
“There is now,” I snapped. “Get the pilot on his comm.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” the guard answered, his discomfort obvious. “Sir, you have to get permission from Warden Corona for an unscheduled flight.”
“Get me the warden,” I ordered.
The two guards looked at each other, unsure of how to respond.
