The Perfect Clone

by M. L. Stephens

  “Nice to see you kids are getting along.” Cara’s voice broke through their chatter. Luke’s body went rigid. He’d been caught off guard by Cara’s approach and that shouldn’t have happened. He’d been taught to always be on alert, even in surroundings considered friendly. Shit. He was sure to hear about this later.

  Sarah glanced at Luke, waiting for an introduction. He didn’t offer one.

  “In lieu of Luke’s speechlessness, I’m Cara. You must be Sarah.”

  Holding up her bags to indicate that her hands were full, Sarah replied, “That’s me.”

  Luke finally cleared his head enough to jump in the conversation. “Sorry about that. Cara, this is Sarah; Sarah, my boss.”

  “Thanks for letting him off today. He’s been showing me around. This place is amazing. We even found fresh vegetables in the market.” Sarah beamed.

  Cara wasn’t one to waste time on female banter. “Glad I could help. Luke, I need you in my office as soon as possible. Good to meet you,” she said to Sarah. Cara nodded toward the girl and headed off toward the processing area.

  Sarah pressed the elevator button but didn’t miss the uneasiness that she felt radiating from Luke. Shrugging her shoulders Sarah tilted her head to the side. “She seemed nice enough.”

  “I don’t think she’d qualify for nice, but yeah. She’s cool.”

  “If you need to go—”

  Luke didn’t allow Sarah to finish the sentence. “No, she’ll wait. Let’s get these bags to your room.”

  Nothing was said during the ride down. When the elevator pinged, Luke followed Sarah to her room. After she opened the door, Luke deposited the groceries on the table. “Well, looks like my job here is done. I’ll see you later.”

  “Yeah, I hope I didn’t get you in trouble?” Her concern was genuine and he recognized the value of such a kind gesture. He didn’t get that a lot.

  “Don’t worry about that. Cara’s an A.S.A.P kind of woman. I’m not in trouble, but thanks for pretending to be concerned.”

  Sarah pushed against his shoulder. “I’m not pretending.”

  He could get used to these types of simplistic discussions, he thought. Being around Sarah was easy—natural. “Yeah, well, I’d better get going before I talk myself out of real work.”

  “Before you go, do you think I could talk you into helping me add some color to my room? I could use an extra hand to roll some paint.”

  Luke was walking in unfamiliar territory. He was ordered to hang out with her, but this was becoming too friendly, too fast.

  “Hold up a minute, painting is pushing our relationship into new territory don’t you think? Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the family type, although I am half way decent in the kitchen.”

  “It’s not a date, silly. It’s a friend helping a friend. I can consider you a friend, can’t I?”

  “I couldn’t really say. I don’t have any friendships to compare.”

  “Well, consider yourself recruited for the friendship challenge. I’ll handle the color scheme if you’re willing to help with the manual labor.”

  “It’s a deal. Maybe afterwards you can help me with my place.”

  “You’re on. Now you’d better get. I don’t imagine your boss lady likes to wait.”

  “You’re right about that, she doesn’t. I’ll see you later, and we’ll catch that movie.” Luke headed out the door, conjuring up ideas on how he should handle things with Sarah. He wasn’t sure that he needed to become attached, but he did like her—a lot.

  ********

  Luke entered Cara’s office on the processing platform. “You wanted to see me?”

  “We have a situation. Frank hasn’t returned.”

  “Returned from where?”

  “He was sent to pick up a delivery from the warehouse two hours ago, he never arrived.”

  “Have you checked his vehicle’s GPS?”

  “Yes. It’s parked along the route. I sent Ben to check on it earlier. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence of foul play.”

  “You don’t think he’s a runner, do you?”

  “You can never tell, but no. I don’t picture Frank as the running type.”

  “Has there been new activity from the rebels?”

  “Not since we took out that farmhouse this summer. The Intel we gathered during the raid provided us with very little information. The rebels aren’t talking, so our civilians aren’t getting anything. We’ve placed new contacts in new places, but nothing.”

  Cara lowered her voice an octave. “I want you with me on this one Luke. You’re the best tracker we have. Hell, you’re the best fighter we have. I don’t know what we’re walking into, so we need to be prepared for anything. If Frank’s a runner, that’ll be tough enough given his skill set. If he’s been taken by the rebels, we’ll have no other option but to go in and get him out. Ethan, Jessie, and Tank have been notified. They’re gearing up now. I wanted to give you time to tell that girl of yours that you’re leaving.”

  Hitting the desk with both hands, Luke leaned over, furious over Cara’s snide remark. His words came out in a hiss, “She’s not my girl.”

  In one swift move Cara pushed her chair back, knocking it over. Putting her face just inches from his, she opened her switchblade and pressed against his throat. “If you ever raise your voice to me again, I’ll consider it an act of treason.”

  Cara, having made her point, pushed Luke away and closed the blade. “Now get your head out of your ass and tell that girl goodbye. She deserves to know that you’ll be gone. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, you deserve the right to tell her. Don’t screw with me on this.”

  He ran his hand over his head. He’d never stepped out of line before. This whole relationship, friendship, whatever the hell it was, was new and he wasn’t handling it very well. “Regardless of what you think, you’re not my mother, Cara.”

  “You’re right about that. I’m not your mother. I’m your boss. Now get going. We’re leaving at dusk.”

  Luke’s gear was always ready. All he had to do was grab it on his way out. In the meantime, he decided to take Cara’s advice and use the remaining time to explain to Sarah that the movie would have to wait.

  Chapter 20

  The only thing revealed by searching the van was that the company kept clean vehicles, but they already knew that. “Ben, get it back to the facility. I want a complete work over on that damned thing. Find me something.”

  Ben didn’t waste any time. He latched onto the van and made it ready for towing. Jumping into the truck he yelled out, “I’ll call you if we find anything.” Easing onto the pavement, the truck slowly took off, pulling the additional weight behind it.

  Cara split the men up into pairs and sent them out into the corn fields on each side of the road. They were checking for signs that Frank had been on foot. She located a short drain pipe running under a small bridge in the road and took position there. She wanted to keep a visual on her men.

  The cloudy sky was working in their favor, blocking out any light that the moon tried to offer up. It was darker than shit out, she thought. Operating under the cover of night was a real hassle but it was necessary to reduce the risk of gaining attention from the local authorities.

  Lowering her night goggles, Cara gained a visual on the team to her right, watching as they scanned the ground for clues. Team one was well underway.

  Without making a sound, Cara moved to the other end of the pipe so she could gain visual on team two. The sound of a breaking twig at the pipe’s entrance halted further movement. Her men were in the fields, so she shouldn’t have company.

  Cara didn’t wait to ask questions. Equipping a blade in each hand, she dropped to the ground. Using all her physical strength, she crossed her arms in front of her body as she swung both blades behind the knees of the man standing with his back to her. The man’s legs, buckled under the pain. His own weight brought him tumbling down. Without giving him time to make much noise, Cara slit
his throat and pulled him into the pipe. Patting down his gear, she removed the weapons and added them to her collection. “Dumb ass, didn’t your momma teach you to watch your back?”

  Making visual contact with the second group Cara raised her arm to talk into her watch. “We’ve got company. Tank, Ethan, you’ve both got a man on your flank. They’re working blind. No night vision. I want one alive.”

  Ethan and Tank lowered onto their backs and waited for the stalkers to catch up. Hunters never expected to become the hunted. The two unknown men approached Ethan’s and Tank’s position and were overcome. Two bodies fell to the ground.

  Stepping over the bleeder in the pipe Cara checked on the first team again. She wanted to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Luke, Jessie, you’re clear. Luke, take eagle position. Jessie, double back and eagle up in the other field. I want eyes scanning both areas.

  “Ethan. Tank. Clean up the trash and bring me a talker,” Cara ordered into her watch.

  It wasn’t long before Tank discarded his victim at Cara’s feet and lowered himself down to press the barrel of his gun under the guy’s chin. Tank’s massive size, crazy wide eyes, lip piercing, facial tattoo and deep baritone voice was enough to make a grown man piss his pants. The gun just added another sinister element to the overall effect that was Tank. “See that pretty lady right there?” Tank asked his victim. “She has a few questions to ask. You be a good little boy now and answer her, and she might let you live to tell your buddies about how you escaped from big, bad, Tank.”

  The man on the ground had eyes that were on the verge of popping out of their sockets as he nodded his head yes.

  Cara squatted down next to the captive. With a menacing smile, she looked over at Tank and then cast her attention to the main attraction. Removing the intruder’s hat, Cara was momentarily shocked into silence.

  Ethan deposited a lifeless body next to the group and lowered himself down to witness the interrogation.

  “Tsk. Tsk. What do we have here, boys? We’ve got us a girl playing military dress up. How old are you?” Cara questioned.

  In an act of defiance, the girl twisted her head and spat at the woman holding her hostage. The two men’s laughter joined with Cara’s as she wiped the spit from her cheek and flicked it to the ground.

  Falling silent, Cara tilted her head as she considered the best way to deal with the situation. She had to admire the girl’s spunk. It reminded her of her younger self, except her younger self never would have gotten caught. “I tell you what, there’s a level of respect that we female soldiers have for one another. You tell me what I want to know, and I’ll let you run back to your flock and tell them how you escaped.”

  Ethan popped a toothpick between his lips, moving it around in his mouth. “Hell, that’ll make you a living legend girl. We’ve never let one of you piss ants walk away from a fight.”

  Tank stroked the girl’s brow. “If she doesn’t cooperate, can I play with her before we kill her? She’s pretty.” Cara knew Tank well enough to know he’d never touch the girl. He kept a running count of how many people he could make talk without using standard interrogation techniques, and that total was pretty damn high. That’s one of the reasons she’d brought him along, the less time they had to spend on extracting information, the more time they had to find Frank.

  “I want in after you’re done Tank. I don’t mind seconds.” Ethan continued to roll the toothpick in his mouth, sucking on it in between the side switches. The two men worked well together, playing off each other’s words.

  Pretending that they were serious, Cara looked at her men and assumed the role of good cop. “Boys, give the girl a chance. Let’s see if she wants to talk before you get your dicks all worked up. Besides, I’m really not dressed to sit and watch you two pull another three day rape fest.” There had never been a rape fest. Not their style. They didn’t get personal with their victims. They just extracted information and then killed them. The girl didn’t know that though.

  Tank smirked. “Damn. That was messy. Huh?”

  Ethan sucked on his toothpick. “Yeah you damn thug. I told you not to slash her up like that.”

  Cara intervened before their imaginations got the best of them. Focusing back on the scared little rabbit beneath her, Cara asked, “How many of your men, or women, are out here?”

  The girl’s eyes were flooded with tears. Poor thing wasn’t a hardened soldier yet. Not their problem. If you chose to play the part, then you had to take everything it came with it. That included both good and the bad.

  The girl stammered out an answer, “Two. There are just two of us.”

  “Are you sure about that? I’ll give you a chance to change your answer. I don’t appreciate being lied to.

  Shaking her head against the gun pressed under her chin, she cried out, “I’m sure.”

  Cara stood up and ducked inside the pipe, pulling out victim number three. She dropped the dead man’s head next to the girl so she could see his face and the blood still oozing from the slash across his neck. Both men hid their surprise. The boss lady hadn’t mentioned that one. Just like her to keep a good secret.

  Covering the girl’s mouth with one gloved hand to smother her cries, Cara dug the thumb of her free hand into the bullet wound just above and to the left of the girl’s heart—and twisted. “Let’s try this again. How many are there?”

  Choking on her tears the girl strangled out her words. “Four. There are four of us.”

  Ethan talked into his watch. “Find anything?”

  Jessie replied first. “Negative. All I’ve got is a couple of deer.”

  The three of them waited for Luke to respond. No answer.

  Cara gained eye contact with Ethan and motioned her head backward. “Get a visual on him. He’s eagle to the right.”

  Ethan remained crouched as he moved through the pipe to gain a better view. Tossing his voice over his shoulder he reported. “I’ve got visual. He’s located number four and is waiting for the drop.”

  Cara kept her hand over the girl’s mouth as she struggled and bit against it in an effort to warn her friend.

  Ethan admired the crap out of Luke and enjoyed watching him work. He stayed crouched and watched as the fourth guy came within Luke’s range. Dumb guy never stood a chance. With the grace and power of a leopard, Luke fell from the tree. He landed directly behind his prey taking him by surprise. A quick motion of the arms and the victim’s body went limp.

  “Damn he’s fast,” Ethan whispered to himself in awe of what he’d just witnessed.

  Luke replied to the earlier query. “Sorry guys, I was busy. What’s our status?”

  Cara called the two men in. Luke hiked the motionless body over his shoulder and started humping it back to their location.

  Ethan moved back down the pipe and joined the group, resuming his position next to the struggling girl. “You should have seen that kill, Tank. He’s good. Wait till he gets a load of this young thing.”

  Tank took the bait. “I’ve got first dibs.”

  Cara twisted her thumb deeper into the girl’s wound, hoping the girl didn’t pass out before they got the information they needed. “Where’d they take the captive?” When the screams died down to sobs, Cara removed her hand from the captive’s mouth.

  “They took him to the warehouse. He’s there.”

  Pulling her thumb out of the wound and wiping the gore on the girl’s jacket, Cara frowned. “Let’s hope you’re telling the truth.”

  Cara barked the order to her men. “Load her up! She’s coming with us.”

  Tank hauled the girl to her feet and gagged her while Ethan zip tied her hands behind her back.

  Once they loaded the lifeless bodies into the trunk, Tank carefully laid the female hostage on top of the dead pile. “You be good now.”

  Closing the lid, Tank squeezed into the backseat of the sedan to join the others. He wanted to show off his prize. “Dude, get a load of this ball crusher I pulled off that chick b
ack in the bush.”

  Ethan took the Taurus 24/7 .45 ACP and let out a whistle. “Nice. Either she’s daddy’s little princess, or the rebels have new resources.”

  Positioned behind the driver’s seat, Cara pivoted around and glanced at it. “Sweet— Tank, you found it, you keep it. I want it processed into inventory first and I want the inner barrel filed. We don’t need any past mistakes she’s made to come back and bite us in the ass.”

  Jessie held the portable laptop up. “I’ve got it. Warehouse floor plans anyone?”

  The laptop was passed between the five of them as they took a crash course on the property layout of the warehouse.

  Cranking up the sedan, Cara drove down the road, killing the lights and the car about a quarter mile from the warehouse. “Jessie, email our technician and tell him to intercept all calls going into the local PD until he hears back from us. Alright men, listen up. This could be a trap so keep your heads clear. I want a close fan pattern through the woods. Jessie you’re on point. Once we get our eyes on the warehouse I want Luke on back. I want Jessie on left side. Ethan you’re on the right. Tank you’re with me on front. If you find something, you all know what to do. The warehouse doesn’t run a night shift, so if it moves, take it down. I want this to be as clean as possible. No need to wake up the local PD. Clear?”

  The strength behind four men giving a ‘yes ma’am’ to her orders was music to Cara’s ears. Not because men were answering to her orders, but because she could tell by their replies that they were pumped and ready for action. “Let’s do this.”

  The team of five exited the sedan and became ghosts, trekking their way through the trees and brush surrounding the outer edges of the property.

  Jessie came up on one of the rebels’ guardsmen. He was propped up against a tree, sucking on a cigarette. Apparently he wasn’t prepared to have company.

  Jessie tossed a limb in the opposite direction. The rebel pivoted toward the sound and lifted his shotgun. Too simple, Jessie slipped up behind the guy and twisted his neck. He lowered the body to the ground. The cigarette still burned in the dead man’s mouth. Jessie removed it and took a long drag before crushing it under his boot.