The Perfect Clone

by M. L. Stephens

  Since Luke had the keys, Cara leaned against the sedan and waited, thinking about the guns she’d seen. It’d been a quick look, but she hadn’t seen anything fancy or out of the norm. It was hard to believe that someone with such shoddy gear was trying to go up against the Community.

  Something was out of place but she just couldn’t put her finger on it. She had this nagging feeling that she was being played, but by whom? There was no way that this raggedy group of gorillas could have taken Frank alive. Not from what she’d witnessed so far, and who in their right mind would put an inexperienced girl in the line of fire? Why did Vicky and Jack have real identification on them? If their ID was real, then it was safe to assume that the other ID’s they’d found were also real. What was she missing?

  Luke and Jessie made it back to the meeting point and stood over Cara’s legs which were protruding from underneath the car. Luke kicked the bottom of her boot. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Cara squirmed her way out from under the sedan. “I’m checking for bombs.”

  Luke didn’t like the serious look on her face, she wasn’t kidding. “Something we need to know?”

  “Let’s get back to the safe house. I’ve got a few things to figure out.” Cara was the first one in the car. Once the sedan was safely started and they were making their way down the road, the three of them let out a collective sigh of relief. The car wasn’t rigged.

  Knowing that there had to be a missing piece to the puzzle, Cara bounced her thoughts off the two men sitting next to her. “It’s been a hell of a few days. Listen, I was thinking about our training sessions.”

  Jessie was curious. “What about them?”

  “Do you feel like they’re rigorous enough? That we cover everything that we might have to deal with in the field?”

  Luke replied, “And then some. What’s on your mind, Cara?”

  “With field exercises in mind, would you agree that each of you have your individual strengths and weaknesses?”

  Jessie answered, “I’d agree with that. Luke here is the master of ghosting out and surprising his opponent.”

  Luke added his own take on things. “Jessie can break into any digital equipment on the planet and Tank can scare the wits off a grown man without ever raising a hand.”

  Cara kept the topic going. “What about Ethan, what would you consider to be his specialty?”

  “Ethan’s knowledge of first aid techniques and thinking on the fly would be his strong suit. He’s the MacGyver of the group.” Luke wasn’t sure he liked where this was headed.

  “What about Frank? What’s his skill set?” Cara moved around in the passenger seat to gain a better look at the two men.

  “You can’t sneak up on Frank. The man’s got eyes in the back of his head. Oh shit. Wait. What are you getting at?” Jessie leaned back and looked out the window. “You think this was a set up and that Frank’s in on it. What about Tank? The two of them are tight.”

  Luke stopped the car in the middle of the road and turned to look at Cara. “If what you’re thinking is true Cara, if Frank’s helping Vicky’s cousin like Jack says, then our problem runs a lot deeper than we thought. If Tank is in on it, both the safe house and the facility have been compromised. We are out chasing decoys while Frank’s preparing to expose the Community.”

  Jessie could barely get out the words. “The little leak in our dam has turned into a full-fledged geyser.”

  Cara slammed her back against the seat. She was pissed off at herself for being so short sighted. She should have figured this out sooner.

  The tires on the sedan threw rocks and dirt as Luke spun onto the main road. Shit had hit the fan in a big way. They could only pray that they had figured out the deception before it was too late.

  Chapter 24

  “Stop the car!” Cara demanded.

  “What?” Luke visually scanned the area outside the sedan to see what had grabbed her attention.

  “Turn around. We have to go back.”

  “What is it with you tonight Cara?” Jessie had never seen her so out of sorts.

  “We have to get inside that room. I want the list of contacts off that computer. I need to know the truth before I go blazing guns against my men. Tank and Frank are thick as thieves. I will not assume, based on their friendship that Tank is a part of this. There is no way that two of my men turned coat on me. As closely as we work with Tank, one of us would have noticed something suspicious.”

  Luke navigated a U-turn and headed back to the empty field. The night was getting longer with every passing minute.

  Jessie replied, “Cara, there is no way that these guys could sneak up on Frank, not unless he allowed it. As for Tank, you said it yourself, the two are tight.”

  “Yes, but it doesn’t make sense. Think about it. Tank was too upset when he found out Frank was captured and too ‘gun ho’ about getting him back. Tank’s got acting skills, don’t get me wrong, but he’s not that good.”

  Luke had to agree. “You’ve got a point Cara. Tank’s acting skills aren’t that good.”

  Cara shot back, “Smart ass.”

  Jessie thought about the set up that they’d just left. “How do you want to handle this? There’s no way to get inside without taking out one of those men.”

  Cara smiled. “We set up like before. Only this time, we create a diversion to distract the men while one of us goes in.”

  “Tell us what you’re thinking.” Jessie said.

  “If we eliminate either one of the men, then any insiders at NWL will know we’re on to them. We can’t afford to lose the element of surprise if this thing runs deeper than Frank. As things stand, he’ll just think that Jack and Vicky were casualties of war, sort of speaking. As for Frank, he’ll have to deal with Mr. Avery. I don’t imagine Mr. Avery will take it sitting down that one of his men, especially Frank, was captured alive. Not after Ben reports what he saw.”

  “Let’s hope Mr. Avery is spot on as usual or we’re screwed.” Jessie couldn’t fathom Mr. Avery not being thorough with his debriefing. That man didn’t miss anything.

  Cara continued discussing her plan. “I’ll set up the diversion and move into position to cover the front. Jessie, you go in and download the files. The lights that I flashed when I was inside earlier had come from the bathroom. The computer is in the room to the right of that. Luke—”

  “I know, cover the back?” News flash, he always had the back.

  Cara zipped her jacket back up. “Actually Luke, I was going to say, cover the rear.”

  Jessie grinned. Cara was a force to be reckoned with and did not like it to be interrupted.

  Luke parked the car exactly where it had been earlier and the three exited into the night, headed back to the little wood frame house.

  The two men waited in the cold for what seemed like hours. Luke checked the time, thirty minutes since they’d last had contact. He talked into his watch, “Cara, what type of diversion did you have in—” before he could finish asking the question, he heard an explosion and saw the skyline light up with the glow of a fire.

  Luke watched as the man by the back door ran around the house. Jessie hauled ass across the opposite side of the yard and let himself in through the back door.

  Cara’s voice came through on the earpiece. “How’s that for a distraction?”

  Luke responded, “What’d you blowup this time?”

  Cara laughed, “The gas tank on the neighbor’s tractor. The fire trucks should be here shortly, so that should keep them busy for a while.”

  “Nice. I hope the neighbor was insured.” Jessie always thought about things that would never occur to the other two. “I’m in; downloading now.”

  “Just hurry up and get your ass back out here. It’s colder than a polar bear’s tit.” Luke retorted.

  After a few tense moments, Jessie responded, “Done. Am I clear?”

  Luke informed him, “All clear.”

  Jessie exited through the back door and high tailed
it to the wood line. “I’m clear.”

  “Let’s meet back at the car.” Cara became a shadow as she wound her way through the trees and underbrush. The fire’s light was beginning to dim, but the area was still shrouded in enough light that she was partially exposed. Lucky for her, the locals were fixated on the recent destruction rather than who was lurking in the woods.

  The three waited for the fire trucks and squad cars to make their way down the rocky road, before easing their own vehicle out of the pasture.

  “I almost forgot to mention. I placed a bug in the kitchen earlier, so we’ve got ears inside.” Cara was pleased with her decision to go back for the computer data. Blowing something up had also contributed to her better mood.

  Jessie laughed. “We’ve got a second one in the bedroom where the computer was set up.”

  Luke enjoyed working with these two. “There shouldn’t be any more surprises taking place under that roof for quite some time.”

  “Luke, when we get back to the safe house, you and I need to have another conversation with Jack. Jessie, I want you to keep the boys entertained while Luke and I interrogate him. I don’t want anyone to mention what happened tonight. As far as Tank and Ethan are concerned, it was only a stake out, just in case Tank is involved. Jessie, tonight you and I will bunk in the available bedroom so that we can review what you’ve recovered.”

  Luke backed the sedan into the drive. He didn’t park it inside, because he knew they would need the extra space for questioning.

  Luke went in the house and unshackled Jack. He pushed the man into the empty garage and strapped his bound hands over a beam in the ceiling and his bound feet across another beam. Jack was suspended horizontally facing the floor. The crotch of his pants was soaked in blood from his earlier visit with Mistress Cara. Luke found the thought of a dominatrix Cara to be the most frightening thing he could ever imagine, the kind of stuff nightmares were made of. He’d hate to be the SOB dominated by that female. Of course if you enjoyed pain and scarification maybe it wouldn’t be so bad—no, not even then. A shiver ran up his spine. He watched the horror spread across Jack’s face when Cara stepped into the garage.

  A thought flittered through Luke’s mind. What would Sarah think of him if she knew the things he had done, the things he was capable of doing? Would she be able to look past the cruelty and see the man? Or would she view him as a monster? People like him and Cara deserved other people just like themselves, people who understood the harsh realities of life, not people with innocent beliefs and ideals. Sarah deserved better. He’d been a complete idiot to have fooled himself into thinking that anything good could come out of a relationship with someone like her.

  Luke made a decision. He’d play it cool when he got back to the Community. He’d been assigned to keep Sarah occupied and out of trouble, but he could do that without getting personally involved. Twelve months tops, that’s what Cara had said. He was a seasoned bad-ass. Surely he could handle up close and personal for that long.

  He forced the images of Sarah into the far recesses of his mind as he listened to Jack scream out in pain. Cara was giving the man hell.

  “Luke, go get Vicky. It’s time for her to join our little party.” Cara was determined to get the truth one way or another. She didn’t like the idea of Frank being back at the facility, especially since she didn’t know for sure if Mr. Avery had caught on to his game.

  Luke entered the house and came back with the girl in tow. His fingers dug into her arm as she struggled to free herself. “There’s nowhere to run sweetheart. You might as well make it easy on yourself. It’s just you, me, what’s left of Jack up there, and one pissed off bitch.”

  Cara glided over and stroked the blood covered knife across Vicky’s cheek, causing the girl to whimper. “Jack isn’t telling me everything I want to know. We’ve decided to change things up a bit and give Jack a much needed break from the torture.”

  Cara held Vicky while Luke pulled two long sawhorses into the middle of the floor. He placed them directly under Jack. He helped Cara secure her to the sawhorses, much like you would a hog before roasting it whole. Blood dripped off of Jack and splattered against Vicky’s face as she continued to twist her body, struggling against the zip ties. With Vicky bound parallel to Jack and them facing each other, Cara continued her interrogation by digging the point of her blade into the girl’s bullet wound. Once the screaming stopped, Cara asked, “Now where was I?”

  Luke easily fell into his role. “I think you were about to ask if they had ever seen any of us before the takeover in the warehouse.”

  Cara smiled down at Vicky. “Yes, that’s right.”

  Vicky shook her head. “Screw you.”

  Cara’s grimace was terrifying. “You wish you had it so good baby girl, unfortunately for you, I prefer men.” The girl’s scream echoed throughout the space as Cara stabbed into the other shoulder. “But what I can do, is dismember you while good old Jack watches.” Cara ran the blade across the girl’s stomach, drawing more blood.

  Jack struggled to talk. “No. Oh shit. Let her go. I’ll talk.”

  Cara pulled a plastic crate close to Vicky, and straddled it. “Go ahead Jack, whenever you’re ready. We’re all ears.”

  “Please. Let her go,” Jack begged.

  “You give me what I want and I’ll see what I can do about the rest.”

  “I told you who ordered the warehouse deal. What more do you want?”

  “I want to know who else you know on the inside.”

  Jack stumbled with his words. No one, I swear it. I haven’t seen any of you before you hit the warehouse.”

  Another scream broke free as Cara stabbed the blade into Vicky’s leg. “Are you sure? I happen to know of at least two.”

  Jack gave up. He’d had enough. “Ok. Ok! I only know about one. The guy we had tied up in the warehouse, Frank. His name is Frank. That’s all I know. He’s the one that set it up. We were supposed to use him to get your security team out of the Community. Then Frank was going back inside to open the place up so that the rest of us could get in. That’s it, that’s all I know.”

  “What did they intend to do once they infiltrated the Community?” Luke was more than relived that Tank’s name wasn’t mentioned.

  Since Jack had started talking, Vicky had no reason to keep quiet. She just wanted to get hell out of this living nightmare, so she blurted out what she knew. “Frank said that he had security clearance and that he could get us inside some lab and clinic to destroy everything. That’s all we know.”

  Cara wiped her blade on Vicky’s pant leg. “How many people were involved in this?”

  Neither hostage talked. Cara jabbed her blade into Vicky’s other thigh. She had just about lost her patience with these two and it was evident in the tone of her voice. “How many people are involved?”

  Jack yelled the answer, “There were about thirty of us.”

  Cara walked to the door leading into the house. She was tired and in need of a shower. Being a first class bitch had a tendency to wear a person out, not to mention the fact that she was speckled with the blood of her two captives. “Luke come with me, I’ll let Ethan and Tank finish up with these two.”

  Vicky’s sobs rang in Cara’s ear, but she couldn’t be bothered with that. She had other business to attend to.

  Cara dialed Ben’s number. “I had two for dinner. I’ll need someone to clean up.” Cara ended the call and tossed her phone onto the kitchen table, sending it sliding across the wood.

  “Tank and Ethan, I no longer have use for those two. Finish them off and cut them down. Ben’s headed this way to cleanup.”

  After Tank and Ethan headed into the garage, Cara looked at Jessie. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we won’t be sleeping together after all.”

  Jessie was relieved that Tank was cleared. “Damn, and here I was planning a romantic evening for just the two of us.”

  Cara grabbed her pack and walked toward the bathroom. She was not am
used. “I still want to review the data privately.”

  Jessie cleared his throat, “Lucky me.”

  She called back over her shoulder. “I’ll be in the shower if anyone needs me.”

  Chapter 25

  Richard stood in front of his office windows, looking down over the city, with his hands jammed into his pants pockets. Grey clouds stretched beyond the horizon, allowing shadows to creep along buildings and hide in the crevices below. Civilians traversed amongst them in a state of indifference. Shadows were personal demons that you couldn’t hide from. They followed your every move. On the brightest of days, the shadows vanished and offered a false sense of security to those who played the game of pretending that their personal demons did not exist. It was an internal mind game, a brief vacation from their hidden truths. But as the brightness of day faded into night, the shadows always returned to stalk their victims. Because he’d come to terms with and accepted his demons long ago, he was able to continue performing his work without self-doubt or remorse. There was no room for weaknesses.

  “Mr. Avery, your guests have arrived.” He had called the NWL receptionist earlier that morning and told her to let him know when they signed in.

  He hit the intercom button on his desk phone to reply. “Thanks, I’ll send someone down to get them.”

  Richard reached inside the coat closet and retrieved the grey tailor made Armani suit jacket that was the match to his slacks, and slipped it over his broad shoulders. Making sure his gun was neatly tucked into his back holster he walked to the guard’s desk and waited for the elevator to reach his floor. Tom, the guard who usually sat behind the desk was off duty. Jim was standing in for him so Richard knew that he’d be able to bypass the procedure of signing his guests in. Although it was a procedure that he had implemented, there were times when it was better to avoid such details.

  The two men that exited the elevator were dressed as impeccably as Richard, both sporting tailored designer suits. The three men exchanged firm hand shakes. Walking past the guard’s desk, the two men followed Richard down the hall and into his office.