Erik looked questioningly at Raimondo.
“But you mean that they didn’t manage to find all the material during the dismantling? I thought those people knew what they were doing.” His voice sounded sarcastic.
“Yes, they knew what they were doing. We are talking about highly specialized men and women with solid background and training. And some of them I had trained myself. But Vendrick obviously managed to keep parts of it hidden for the dismantlement group that were stationed there.”
Erik paused. Raimondo lined up to his golf ball, swung and sent the golf ball in a wide arch against green. It hit the edge on the left bunker at green, bounced and then fell in it.
“Darn it.” Raimondo said silently.
Erik looked after his own golf ball, saw it some twenty meters away and headed for it. His stroke placed it on the back of the green.
“Good swing.” praised Raimondo. They continued in silence toward the green. Another two swallows shot down from the sky, turned sharply as they approached the grass and flew on.
“What does all this mean then?” Erik looked at Raimondo who was rearranging the club placement in the bag while he was walking.
“It means that Vendrick now has a pretty big head start in terms of clones and their development and the Tabula Rasa shares continues to rise.”
“What will happen?”
Raimondo grimaced.
“To be honest, I really don’t know.”
*
Tabula Rasa, Madagascar.
2048-12-28
The survival instinct triggered the animal inside him. Richard ran aimlessly down the aisle away from his apartment. The pulse hammered in his ears and he thought he had become deaf.
He did not think, his body reacted instinctively on being chased. Sweat poured down his sweater that clung to his back. He rushed down the stairs around the corner from his apartment. One of his knees hit the railing and he bumped into a man who was on his way up, the man fell down screaming.
Richard got up on his legs and rushed on, the fallen man shouted and yelled behind him. One of his arms could barely move and the pain set in it when he tried. He did not know where he should go or who could help him.
The two men had killed Marina. That was clear. He was sure of that. She must be dead. The reddish man had lifted her up like a doll and snapped her neck as easy as a dog breaks a stick in its mouth.
Who had the men been? He did not know; he had never seen them before. They obviously knew about him and his family. They had known about Elizabeth and that she had sent a holocube that was filled to the breaking point. But it had not been enough for them to get the holocube, they had killed Marina anyway.
He knew that he would have been dead if he had not run. His heart pounded and every beat it hammered in his chest made it feel like it would explode. Sweat poured down in his face.
Han slipped, got back on his legs and ran. Every step took him farther away from his apartment but it was as if he was running in slow-motion. His legs were sluggish, slow. The effect of the adrenaline started to wear of and a subtle, grinding fatigue started to creep in the muscles. His arms still burned with pain. The feet were dipped in lead and with each step he took they got heavier and heavier.
At this hour of the day, the various aisles and corridors of this part of the complex was relatively empty. Few people walked alone, a couple of groups of older men sat and played an Asian board game. They were so engrossed in it that they barely glanced up as he ran past. He turned to his left.
It was not possible to run at the same pace and his knee increasingly began to hurt. He saw a small park on one side of the hill in front of him. A couple of small houses further down, it seemed to be some kind of café but it was closed at the moment. He stopped, tried to orient himself. His pursuers could not be far after him.
He had not run for more than five minutes since he had left the apartment. Max ten. It was hard to keep track of how much time had passed. He looked around and saw that he was at a crossroads and the traffic was light. The fiery noise of an automated billboard could be heard some distance away, and he moved away from it. A cable car slipped by a couple of meters above his head. Silently it slid up in front of him and braked softly and stopped on the platform.
He forced himself to take a couple of deep breaths, sucked the air deeply in his lungs. Focused the exhaling. His heart calmed down. His body tried to relax. The lactic acid in his muscles burned away the last remaining adrenaline. The muscles ached as if somebody stood and sprayed pure fire into them. He walked up the steps to the platform, went onboard the cable car and sat down.
The thought of Elisabeth flew into his head. Were they after her too? His thoughts moved like shadows in a storm. Flapping around, manically dancing in circles, back to the starting point. He sat up.
They must be after her. They had known her name and they knew she had sent the holocube to him. What did the damned cube contain? What was it that was so important that Marina had to pay for it with her life? He fingered his inner pocket. The hard edges of the holocube was somehow comforting.
His pulse slowed. Tiny vibrations started to creep out into his hands, out to the fingertips until it looked like he was sitting and playing air piano. He clenched his hands hard and pressed them down in his knee. Tears broke from his eyes and ran down his cheeks.
He shook his head; he must be clear in the head. Elisabeth was still alive. Marina was not. He had to keep it together and focus on finding Elisabeth. To find her was top priority now. Everything else had to wait, even the grief of Marina.
After a couple of minutes ride, the cable car stopped and Richard stumbled up on his unsteady legs, walked out and started to walk towards the elevators nearby. It was something that worked flawlessly at Tabula Rasa. There were a lot of different elevators to go around with and you could go everywhere in the complex without any big hassle. The transport system was designed to be groundbreaking in several different ways. Artificial intelligence steered the elevators and calculated how the system would be used most efficiently. Mounted cameras and sensors supplied the system continuously with information on how people moved and gave the artificial intelligence time to send elevators and transport to where they would be most useful.
Richard moved to the elevator and when he got close, the doors slid silently open. He stepped in and pushed level six, the level where Elisabeth lived. He had to find her. The men who had killed Marina had wanted to catch Elisabeth and he had to find her first. He prayed that the red-haired had not already went home to Elisabeth. His stomach turned when he thought about it and he leaned on to one of the railings.
* * *
“Are you ok?” a voice asked. Richard looked up and saw a woman dressed in something that looked like a jogging outfit and running shoes. The woman stood outside the elevator and took of her headphones. Sweat shined on her forehead and her cheeks were reddish. Her eyes radiated warmth and Richard thought he saw real concern in them. The elevator doors were still open and Richard wished that they would close. He mumbled.
“Oh yes, just a little sick. I’m on my way to my daughter so that she can take care of me.” he crossed his fingers that the woman would be discouraged to spend time in an elevator with a sick person. The woman studied him with a puzzled look and shrugged
He froze when the woman entered the elevator, but a few seconds later he thanked his lucky star because the woman seemed to have lost interest in him when she pulled up her headphones and put them back on her head.
Richards pulse slowed. After half a minute, the elevator doors opened and Richard walked out of it on unsteady legs. He knew that the woman followed him with her eyes when he walked out but he did not turn around.
He was only a few minutes away from Elisabeth's apartment and he hoped that he had made it in time to his daughter's apartment. She had said that she was going to get something, then they would meet at his place. His beloved daughter. When she had gotten into the university he had been the proude
st father in the world. Richard shook his head, tried to regain something that resembled control. He had to see her as soon as possible. His arms burned with fire and they pounded. He looked down. No blood. Grateful but still with his arms filled with burning lava, he staggered towards Elisabeth’s apartment.
*
Falsterbo, Sweden
2048-12-28
It is during the hunt that the hunter is as most alive. The tall man with the eagle nose squatted besides his control panel. He was hidden about hundred meters in the reed, north of the eleventh tee at Falsterbo golf club. The soft reed slowed moved in the wind and rustled beneath him as he moved and he was almost impossible to see where he was squatting.
A weak smell of sludge rose up from the ground around him but it did not bother him the slightest. The man was dressed in camouflage clothes and the contours of his body melted into his surroundings. If you did not know that he was there was he basically invisible. He glanced up, saw two men far away on the golf tee. A bird formation slid by in the sky.
The man focused. His breathing was soft, rhythmic. His pulse low. His target was simple but the mission that led him to his target was complicated. He would make sure that the man whose name was Raimondo del Louis met his creator. It was that he would do. It was his task, to remove the threats that he got assigned to remove. He enjoyed the knowledge that he worked for most powerful man in the world and he was proud over it.
He scratched his sharp nose, raised his binoculars and studied the two men as they moved on the golf course. A water droplet ran along his cheek and he wiped it away with the hand. It had been hard work to get all the way into the reed where he was located but he was in excellent physical shape and managed that part unseen.
In front of him, on a folding table, was a black box. Next to the box was a laptop. The eagle nosed man worked quickly with uploading the latest DNA samples from the target. He had several times been inside the house where the target lived and taken several different small DNA samples. It had been a simple job. Later he had used a portable DNA-replicator and analyzed and generated Raimondo’s genetic profile. In the end, he had developed a profile that he would use as target coordinates. His fingers flew over the keyboard and after a couple of seconds he pushed a button on the side of the black cube.
It blinked quickly and from the control panel, a weak humming started that indicated that the dragonfly was ready.
He aimed a high sensitive microphone against the two men who were at eleventh tee. He put on his headphones and heard them crackle and then fall silent. The sound quality was unbeatable. He adjusted the quality until it sounded as good as if he stood next to them. The high sensitive microphone picked up the conversation without a problem.
“What do you mean, alive?” a weak humming noise stopped almost instantly.
“Exactly what I’m saying.” the voice crackled.
“Do you mean that the thing they found in orbit is alive? How can it be alive? What is it?” Erik’s voice trembled of excitement.
“It is pretty unclear at the moment but according to the information we’ve collected it is alive, this thing that they found, but what it is we don’t have information about yet.”
“But, oh my god. A living object in space? It sounds like pure fantasy. How can be alive in space?”
“Yes, it sounds totally incredible, but it actually seems to be true. Vendrick has been in constant contact with the space station, and they act apparently as a relay station for the communication between Tabula Rasa and the sphere in orbit.”
“What are they communicating about?”
A pause as one of them leaned down to pick up something from the ground.
“That part of the communication we haven’t managed to crack yet.”
“So you don’t know what they are saying to the sphere?”
“No.”
“It sounds like a fantasy. One of the world's most powerful men who is the boss of one of the mega complexes that have come the furthest in development has found an unknown, living object in the moon's orbit that they now have secret conversations with.”
* * *
The eagle nosed man had heard enough. He studied both men with his binoculars. He glanced against the tee and saw Raimondo hit his second ball and it flew in a short, sharp arch over the water and landed in the bunker. Erik stood behind the bunkers and waved with his club to show that he had seen where Raimondo’s ball had landed. Raimondo waved back and started walking up on the wooden bridge that crossed the water toward the green. The eagle nosed man observed Erik and saw that he was busy with finding his own ball that had gone too far. He entered the commands that would activate the dragonfly.
A hatch on the control panel slid silently to the side and after a couple of seconds an insect that resembled a dragonfly crept out. It was only a couple of centimeters long. Instead of a body of organic material, this dragonfly consisted of an extremely miniaturized and efficient machinery. It folded out its wings and quickly ascended. The eagle nosed man did not have to do anything more, the dragonfly was autonomous and would find its victim without involvement from him.
* * *
The dragonfly homed in on its target and smoothly flew towards it. It quickly flew under Raimondo's leg, made a sharp turn and just below the chin it released a knockout gas that acted immediately. The gas was a synthesized, fast-acting version of Fentanyl.
The effect was immediate. Raimondo felt like a hammer had hit his chest. He lost his orientation and fumbled wildly with his arms. His mouth opened to suck in air but instead sucked the gas deeper into his lungs. He tried to keep his balance but lost it and fell.
Erik looked up when he heard the splash, he stood next to the rear bunker and tried to locate Raimondo. He could not see him. Saw nothing. Walked a couple of steps to the side. Still nothing. There were at least seventy meters to the bridge. He turned around, looking after his own ball. After a couple of seconds, he again turned to the bridge and expected Raimondo would have showed up. Nothing.
Raimondo were nowhere to be seen. Erik grimaced. Waited. Something was wrong. An undefinable feeling of frustration and fear started to get a hold of him. He started walking towards the bridge. First slowly, then faster. He threw the golf club to the side when he started running against the bridge. Fast steps now. The panic welled up inside him.
“Raimondo! Where are you?”
He could not move his legs fast enough. He shouted.
“Raimondo!”
He quickly crossed the green. Past the bunkers and up against the wooden bridge. His eyes searching. There. Something glimpsed in the water. It looked like a big sack. He shouted.
“Raimondo!”
But he already knew. Knew that the thing in the water was Raimondo. He ran up on the bridge, jumped down next to his friend, stumbled when he landed in the murky water. The brown water splashed up and he got it in his mouth, in his eyes. It stung and he wiped it off with his hand. Staggering he reached Raimondo and got a hold of his shoulder. He pulled, trying to pull Raimondo’s head out of the water so he did not drown.
It was shallow where he stood, maybe five meters from the edge. Maybe half a meter deep. The water was cold and cloudy. The faint stench when the mud swirled up in large currents when Erik struggled. He got hold of the collar of Raimondo sweater and pulled. Raimondo’s body rolled over. Dirty, stinky water washed over Raimondo’s nose and mouth. His eyes were closed. Erik screamed.
“No! Raimondo!”
He struggled to keep Raimondo’s head above water but his water-soaked clothes were incredibly heavy. Erik's legs buckled as he tried to get a firm grip on Raimondo. He yelled.
”Help! Somebody help me!”
He gasped. The cold water quickly drained his strength. His heart was pounding like a jack hammer in his chest. His legs sank deep into the bottom mud when he tore and pulled to get Raimondo’s body to solid ground. His shins throbbed with pain. He pulled, tried to drag Raimondo’s body to the edge. A sharp pain shot th
rough his leg and it buckled. Small, black stars began to encroach his field of vision. He stumbled, fell, got up and fell again.
Every time more dirty water washed over Raimondo’s face. Erik could not see if Raimondo were breathing or if he was already dead. Erik screamed again, so loud that his voice cracked and pain tore in his throat.
“Help me! Somebody! For god’s sake, help me!”
Far away he heard someone answer. He could not look up because he was afraid of letting go of Raimondo. He tried to answer but only a croaking sound escaped his mouth. Raimondo slipped out of his grip, rolled over and his face fell back under the water surface. Desperately he pulled in Raimondo’s body trying to turn him around but his strength had left him catastrophically fast. He yelled. With his last strength he pushed the inelastic body for king and country and finally it slid over on the side. Dark, disgusting water drizzled out of Raimondo’s lifeless body.
Erik collapsed besides Raimondo, he sunk down to his knees in the stinking water. He turned his eyes to the sky and wondered why god had abandoned him. He was ready to give up when he heard voices getting closer. He pointed weakly at Raimondo.
“Save him. Please, save him. He cannot die like this.”
Two men quickly jumped down from the bridge and with powerful grip, pulled Raimondo the last stretch towards the grass verge. He was not moving. They turned him over on his back and started CPR.
* * *
Further away, the tall man with the eagle nose smiled. He lowered the binoculars and nodded to himself. Mission accomplished. The second part of the operation should now start. He knew that his brothers would take care of the lawyer who had found out too much.
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