by Kells, India
She went from one incubator to another and they were all identical, the setup was all the same. When she turned to examine the room, she saw Sully looking at files.
“What did you find?”
Sully shook his head. “As per their files, they may be alive, but the brain is dead.”
“What? What do you mean?”
Sully sifted through the papers. “They’re clones, honey. And from the beginning, although the brain had developed normally, they never woke up. Here, they’re referring to a new protocol …”
Gabrielle turned back to the babies. “How can this be possible?”
“I don’t know and we don’t have time to find out now.”
Part of her didn’t want to leave the babies behind, but Sully was right. What could she do? They had to move. Simon was somewhere and they had to find him.
Other rooms, other patients. They saw toddlers and young children in their beds, hooked up as the babies were. Immobile, silent, only breathing. The more they walked, the older the clones became. In one room, they were young adults and while she scanned the faces, Gabrielle choked up a sob. Sully came near her and saw what she saw.
Gabrielle blinked back tears and pushed open the door, walking to her immobile self, lying on a bed. Sully followed, looking around.
She stood beside her. “She’s younger than the other … me. The one Simon had shown us in Prague.” Touching her face, she discovered she was warm and still, asleep, her blonde hair longer, fanning around her, making her face so peaceful and innocent.
Automatically, she went to her file, hooked at the end of the bed. “Sully? This is the same data as the babies earlier, detailing her growth status. She’s only six months old, but looks like me when I was twenty. No signs of brain activity. She’s like a corpse … Sully?”
She turned to see him standing with his back to her beside a bed.
“Sully?” Still, he didn’t move. When she came closer, she saw why. He was staring at a copy of himself—a younger, rounder self at about twenty. His hand was on his clone’s shoulder. When she turned to see his face, she saw a tear rolling down. Gabrielle knew what he was feeling and she took his hand in his.
“He cloned me. He cloned me,” Sully repeated like a litany. “The bastard will pay. I don’t care if he’s James’ son. He’s a dead man.”
“Don’t let your emotions cloud your judgment. I need you here, Sully. It’s important. We need to find Alie’s baby. Our primary goal.
In a rage, he swiped his face. “Let’s finish it.”
***
The corridor took another turn and came to a stop. One last door, cracked open. Gabrielle quickly glanced at Sully, who nodded and took position on the other side of the door. She was about to push it open when a voice stopped her.
“My dear friends, Gabrielle, Sullivan. Please come in, we were waiting for you.”
Simon. Gabrielle took a step back and pushed the door with her foot. One glance told her that Simon was alone, sitting on a rocking chair, with Alie’s baby in his arms and a gun in his hand.
He was more rugged than the last time she saw him, more tired, his hair longer with a shadow on his cheeks. But it was his eyes, that mad gaze and it froze her to the bone. Was it the last stage of a man corrupted by power? Poisoned by madness?
“Come in, both of you. And meet little Jamie, my most incredible achievement. My crown jewel.”
Sully shook his head. “You’re outnumbered, Feander. Drop your weapon and let the baby go.”
Simon laughed and again, and it bordered on crazy. “I’m no fool. I ordered my guards to let you in. I wanted you both to assist in the last step of this great endeavor. With this child, a brand new phase begins. The clones are ready.”
The baby fussed a little and Simon cooed at him before he lashed out. “Now, come here. That’s an order.”
His tone lost some of its cool and Gabrielle took one last look at Sully before stepping inside. She raised her hands, but kept her weapon. Sully followed and did the same.
“Drop your weapons, both of you.”
Sully growled, but Simon smiled and pointed the gun to the baby’s head. “I would do as I say if I were you.”
Gabrielle slowly bent her knees to set her weapon on the ground. “You won’t harm the baby, he’s too valuable.”
Simon’s eyes were on Sully, who mimicked Gabrielle and lowered his weapon on the floor. But she knew that he had one more weapon in the small of his back and one ankle holster. So did she. They didn’t come in empty handed.
She drew the attention of Simon back toward her. “We only want the baby, Simon. Give him to us and we will go.”
Simon shook his head. “Don’t you understand? Little Jamie is only one piece of the puzzle, and you, lovely Gabrielle, are the other. I know all about your amazing recovery after using the memory serum. I was lucky, because I could get away from the explosion site with only a few bruises. I didn’t think you were the type to sacrifice yourself. This is the reason why I didn’t plan for you to come back and try bringing me down. Don’t you see? How many people do you know have your skills, your resiliency, and your intelligence? Why do you think I cloned you and Sullivan Thorne, the best of the best the Navy can offer?”
“Because you’re crazy?” Sully replied, but Gabrielle winced when Simon’s gaze turned to ice.
“I’m not crazy. I’m a visionary. Unlike my father, I’m not stopped by a few deaths and morality detours. I only aim for the ultimate goal. And you, Gabrielle, and this baby will allow me to achieve this. Imagine, guards as deadly as you both? Protection clones of key people in the political and military spheres? An incredible future, indeed.”
Gabrielle knew Sully was trying to push him, to find a crack, anything he could use to grab the baby and put a bullet in Simon. But she feared the man in front of them was too far gone to be handled this way. She would have to go a little crazy herself to get to him.
“Sullivan, maybe Simon is right.” She changed the tone of her voice in such a way, she sounded entranced. Dead calm, she blanked her face and decided to play the madman’s game. Her last chance.
Sully gaped in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“Think about it. We’ve fought all our lives for what? Nothing. Wars are still raging, politicians still corrupted. We have bled for them, and it was for nothing. Simon has a point here.”
As she hoped, Simon lit up. On the other hand, Sully took a step back.
“Gabrielle—”
“No, hear me out.” She came in front of him, her back to Simon, and put her hands on his shoulders. When she winked at him, he relaxed a little. “What if we could make a difference in this world? My body is tired and worn out by all the battles. But Simon is offering me a brand new one … younger, uninjured. I could accomplish so much more.”
Before she turned, she put a hand between them and signaled him to get ready to shoot.
When she faced Simon again, she hoped her face demonstrated the right level of excitement and elation. As she took a step forward, she removed her Kevlar vest, needing some mobility for the next step of her plan.
“Simon, are you sure you can do everything you’ve said? The soul transfer? Because, I’m ready.”
Smiling, Simon relaxed his posture. She knew she was standing directly between Sully and Simon, but if she was quick enough, she knew Sully would be, too.
Gabrielle crouched in front of Simon, tears welling up in her eyes. “I’m ready, Simon. What’s the next step?”
The smile Simon gave her was almost sweet. “You only have to die, dear Gabrielle, so you can be reborn.”
He aimed his gun at her head, which made him shift, loosening his grasp on the baby. She deflected the weapon, grabbed the bundled infant, and jumped away. Just before she landed and rolled on the rock floor, she protected the baby the best she could, shielding it with her form of what may come next. Her bones rattled by the force of the impact. Behind her, bullets were flying and she couldn�
�t do anything about it, but prayed Sully was quick enough and accurate enough to save them. Weaponless and without body armor, she was dead meat. The baby stirred and she pulled him closer to her body, covering his head and ears with her hand.
When silence came, she remained still, praying for a miracle.
“Gabrielle? Honey? Are you all right? God, please, tell me you’re not hurt.”
Hot tears slid down her cheeks as Sully gently rolled her to her back and gathered her in his arms, careful of the baby between them.
“I’m fine, Sully. I’m fine.”
“Holy shit, woman. You had me scared for a minute. What the hell was your plan?”
Looking up at him, she smiled. “That you would be a better shot than Simon.”
“Yeah, great plan.”
Sully tensed and rolled again as footsteps came running toward them. Gabrielle peeked at the baby calm against her chest, and crawled to get her gun. If the guards Simon was talking about had been alerted, they were not out of trouble.
“Sully?”
Three men, from what Gabrielle could hear, stopped on the other side of the door. And the voice was familiar. Small blessings.
“Lance!”
“Hey guys! I’m here with two of my men, can we enter?”
“Please do so, man.” Sully got to his feet as Lance came in. His men stayed by the door.
Lance surveyed the room and nodded. “Well, from what I see, you didn’t need rescuing at all.”
“I wouldn’t say that.”
Sully helped her to her feet as she tried not to jostle the infant.
“You killed the psycho and you rescued junior. Not a bad day after all.”
Gabrielle glanced at the scene and saw Simon, bloody and very dead, with at least two rounds in his chest and one in his neck, lying on the floor. Blood pooled around him, and for a moment, her heart ached for the lost son and soon grieving father.
“I agree, we were lucky. And I think we’ve spent all the luck of our entire lifetime on this.”
“And the baby? Junior?”
Gabrielle glanced down again, discovering the baby looking serenely at her and at the two big men with interested eyes.
“Sheesh. Junior has nerves of steel, not a cry, not a poop.”
Sully turned to his friend. “And what about the rest of the complex? And the guard? And the scientists?”
Lance stared at his men, and then back at them. “That’s the thing, there is nobody here. Well, nobody alive. We found some of the staff, all dead. Shot to death. But for a laboratory this big, there should have been more people. Most of the tasks seemed automated, but …”
“There must be a way of contacting Bea and James, telling them we have Junior and we’re safe.”
“I have someone on it. We found the communication center.”
Someone came running down the corridor. One look at the man reassured Gabrielle he was one of them.
“Captain, I contacted the admiral, and there is an emergency. Please, come quick!”
The man sprinted back and Gabrielle ran as fast as she could with a baby in her arms, following Lance, his men and Sully at her side. They went into the corridor Lance had taken. A few doors down, they entered a communication center. One of the men was speaking quickly into a microphone.
“Captain Sorenson is here, sir, with the entire team, Captain Thorne, Gabrielle, and the baby. The threat had been contained. Yes, sir.” The man turned a knob and the voice of the admiral boomed into a speaker phone.
“Thorne, Gabrielle, there was a leak, someone told the Indian authorities about what is happening beneath the temple. They’re preparing to go in. You don’t have much time. It is for you to decide if the laboratory has enough sensitive information that shouldn’t be divulged. If it’s the case, we need to blow this thing up.”
Gabrielle looked at Sully and at the baby. “Nobody is alive here, beside us. And I don’t want my clone or the babies to become experiments, plastered all over the media. I want everything to stop.”
Sully nodded and took her by the waist before rubbing his cheek against hers.
“I agree. This thing has to blow up. Everything must be destroyed. How long before the authorities make an attempt?”
The admiral hesitated. “Two hours, more or less. I’ll do everything I can to delay the entry.”
“So we don’t have any choice, we have to get out, the way we got in. But it will take more than two hours, and if we blow things up here, the galleries will collapse on us.”
Sully nodded. “But we know the way now. We can run most of the distance, so I’d say it would take us two hours. Do you think it’s possible with the baby?”
Gabrielle shrugged. “I don’t know; we may have to stop. But I don’t think it will be a problem. Let’s try to find some milk and diapers, that should do the trick.”
One of the men signaled by the door. “I’m on it.”
Gabrielle turned back at Lance. “How long for you to rig the entire place?”
“We have everything. Fifteen minutes, tops. I can program it with a two-hour delay as we won’t be able to trigger the explosion once in the tunnels.”
Gabrielle nodded. “Okay, Admiral. Keep them from entering for two hours, and have transportation ready for us at the extraction point. Maybe a doctor for the baby would be a good idea, too.”
“On it. Good luck. You’re going to need it.”
***
It was decided Sully would be the baby carrier. Gabrielle proposed herself, but he saw how fatigue was creeping in on her and it would be better for her not to have any extra weight to carry out of here.
With the help of Lance and extra straps, he made a cozy little nook inside his body armor. Gabrielle used every single second of the fifteen minutes before they all left to feed Junior a little and change his diaper. Lance placed a bag with milk and diapers across his chest. When she was done, the baby seemed in a good mood. He hoped it would stick as he would be shaken quite a bit as they jogged to the exit. While she was busy with the baby, Sully asked Lance to keep an eye on Gabrielle. Through their escape she would reach the end of her energy and it worried him. Lance didn’t make any jokes about it which meant his friend was as concerned as he was about her.
Fifteen minutes later, to the second, the men came back, ready to leave. In two hours, this whole complex would take fire and collapse onto itself, destroying everything, without leaving any trace. Sully preferred not to think about the implications—about the empty shells still breathing in the rooms, in the lab. He turned his attention to the task at hand.
When Sully took the baby from Gabrielle’s arms and placed him inside his makeshift cradle, the baby giggled.
“I think he likes it,” she teased him.
“Yeah, he better. Don’t yack on me, pal.” But Sully smiled at the infant.
Shaking her head, she helped him close the carrier. The baby settled in and Sully took the opportunity to turn to his wife and kiss her senseless.
When he backed away, she opened her eyes. “Whoa, that was some kiss.”
“Yeah, a reminder of what will happen to you on our honeymoon. One last effort, honey, and we will be home.”
She touched his cheek. “I honestly can’t wait. Let’s go home.”
Lance led the way, with one of his men, and then he followed with Gabrielle behind him and the two other members of Lance’s team closing the back.
The group could keep a quick pace until they reentered the tunnels. The lack of space forced them to slow down and mind the ceiling and walls. They were not going fast enough in Sully’s opinion. When the shaft opened up more, he ordered Lance to accelerate. He couldn’t see how Gabrielle was faring, but he heard her labored breath behind her. She was keeping up, but it must have started taking a toll on her. At least, the two men at the back would alert him if she collapsed or slowed down.
“Lance, what time?”
His friend didn’t slow down as he checked his watch. “We have on
e hour left before the explosion.”
Sully made a quick calculation in his mind, from where they were and where they would be when the bombs went off.
“We’re not fast enough, Lance.”
Lance answered abruptly, “Do you think I haven’t noticed? But I cannot go faster! The ground isn’t level, I can’t see more than a few meters up front, and if we miss our intersection, we’ll be screwed.”
Sully cursed under his breath. “Gabrielle, do you remember the maps well enough? Will we be far enough to be safe when it blows up back there?”
