The Clone Paradox (The Ark Project, Book I)

by J. W. Elliot

  “What do you mean unauthorized?” Jade asked.

  “The airship filed no flight plan,” Colt said. “It has no markings, and it does not appear on the register.”

  “What’s it carrying?”

  “My source told me it’s carrying genetic material for South America. Wait. I thought I saw...”

  The voice fell silent.

  “He cut out,” Birch said.

  “Colt,” Jade said into her wrist terminal. “Colt.”

  When Colt didn’t answer, Jade sprang to her feet. “Dang it,” she said. “That son of a moth-eaten blanket better not have been discovered. I told him to keep his head down.” She strode to the door and disappeared into the hallway.

  Kaiden chuckled at her weird way of cursing. “Do we have some special operation in South America?” he asked.

  “Seriously?” Birch said. “We collect DNA from every ecosystem on the planet. Of course, we have operations in South America.”

  “I understand that,” Kaiden replied.

  “But why are we sending genetic material there?” Willow said. “It usually comes to us for processing before being sent to the seed bank.”

  “That’s the question,” Kaiden said. He stood. “I think we should follow Jade.”

  As the door swished open, Kaiden found himself facing Rio with an armed escort. He froze. His hand drifted toward his weapon.

  Rio smirked. “Don’t give me an excuse.”

  Kaiden snapped to attention and saluted, trying to act like he normally would, though his insides were writhing. Why would Rio appear at this moment?

  “Sir?” Kaiden questioned.

  He eyed Rio and the guards warily. His mind raced as he estimated how quickly he would have to move to eliminate them all before they could neutralize him. His odds weren’t good.

  Rio peered over Kaiden’s shoulders to Willow and Birch. “Ah,” he said. “Two ladies at once. You’re finally learning from Greyson.”

  “Can I help you, sir?” Kaiden demanded again.

  Rio winked at him. “I don’t want anything, lover boy,” he said. “But, Noah wants to speak with you.”

  Noah? Kaiden’s throat tightened, and his heartbeat pounded in his ears. He was going to end up like Quill.

  “Should we disarm him?” one of the men asked.

  Rio appraised Kaiden. “I don’t think so,” he said. “He’s not a prisoner—yet. But give him time. He’s working really hard at becoming one.” Rio clicked his tongue in disapproval. “Two failed missions, several dead officers, and years of TAP work wasted? Now, hanky-panky on his off hours?”

  Not a prisoner yet? Then what did Noah want? Hadn’t he been discovered hacking into TAP security files? Had the body in the Genesis Room already been found?

  “And to think everyone thought you should be the commanding officer,” Rio said. “You’re pathetic.” He gestured with his chin toward Kaiden, and the guards stepped forward and each grabbed Kaiden by an arm before marching him away.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Noah Sees

  “You may leave him.”

  The deep bass voice sent a shiver up Kaiden’s spine, but there was something wrong with it. It didn’t sound natural. Kaiden knew the rumors about Noah, the head of TAP. He was said to personally execute any traitors found in TAP, and he liked to use a sword. Kaiden didn’t know how true this was—especially since Quill had been quietly shot. But still, the chances of leaving this interview alive were not in his favor. Sweat trickled down his back.

  The guards shoved Kaiden through the door, and he stumbled in, blinking at the glare of a bright light as he examined the circular room. Chairs and computer consoles sat in orderly rows with blue holographic monitors hovering above them, filling the room. Kaiden felt like a fly that had been drawn to the center of a spider’s web. This must be the hub of Noah’s intelligence-gathering operation. From here, Noah could monitor everything that happened at TAP. The door swished closed behind him, and he searched the room for Noah, but no one was there.

  This seemed odd. Surely someone had to monitor all of those computers. What good would an intelligence-gathering center be without people to gather the intelligence?

  The big screen flickered to life in front of him, and Kaiden found himself staring at an old man with white hair and a long beard seated in a high-backed chair. He wore a black jacket, like the security personnel, with a large, red ark stitched at his left shoulder. The old man didn’t smile or blink. He simply stared.

  “Why did you hack into our security system?” Noah demanded. His voice, deep and menacing, echoed off the walls.

  Kaiden stiffened. He had half-hoped this meeting would be about his last two missions as Rio seemed to think. But this was far worse.

  “How—”

  “Do not presume,” Noah interrupted, “that you can do anything like that inside my complex without my knowledge.”

  Kaiden’s palms began to sweat. How much did Noah know? Was he only talking about his latest attempt or also about Quill or the raid on Rio’s computer, or the body hidden in the Genesis Room? And if Noah knew about Quill and had had him executed, why was Kaiden still alive?

  “Yes, sir,” Kaiden said in a weak attempt to buy some time to think of a plan.

  “I’m waiting,” Noah said.

  “Curiosity, sir,” Kaiden said.

  Noah wasn’t convinced. “Your curiosity has now become dangerous.”

  Kaiden shifted his feet. “Yes, sir.”

  “You understand that I cannot allow you to continue?”

  “Yes, sir.” Kaiden shifted his leg and felt the holster strapped there. He let his hand rest on his thigh as he noted the location of the cameras in the room and the two other doors. If he had to, he would shoot his way out.

  Noah glowered down at him with an expression that Kaiden didn’t understand. Was Noah angry? Concerned? Worried? The silence stretched on. Kaiden squirmed. Sweat beaded on his brow as he glanced around the room again at all the flashing lights and flickering screens. Noah was the great spider sitting at the center of thousands of threads listening to every tremor, sending his minions to silence opposition. Perhaps they even rewrote memories so he could reconstruct the world to his own liking.

  Kaiden realized that this old man had robbed him of his past, ripped his mind from his body, and forced him into a life he had not chosen. The heat rose in his chest. He clenched his jaw. His fingers itched to hold his sidearm.

  “I know, sir!” he shouted with belligerent recklessness. “I know what you’ve done to us!”

  The expression on Noah’s face hardened. “And what have I done?” he said.

  “You’ve made us all freaks,” Kaiden shouted.

  To Kaiden’s surprise, Noah grinned. “Now, I understand,” he said. “It took you longer to figure it out this time.”

  Kaiden started as the bottom fell out of his stomach. This time? What was Noah talking about? “What?” he murmured.

  Noah grunted in satisfaction. “You’re three years late,” Noah said. “We are making progress.”

  Kaiden could only gape. Had he been engineered to be uncritically loyal to TAP? He still hadn’t internalized what Willow had been trying to tell him. He was just another experiment. Nothing more. Noah had been genetically engineering him to make it so that he never doubted TAP, never questioned. And this time, the experiment had almost worked. If it hadn’t been for the explosion on the lunar transport, he might never have figured it out.

  Noah jerked his head around to stare at something Kaiden couldn’t see or hear. Noah barked an order. The screen flickered, and something or someone else flashed behind Noah’s image for just an instant. Then, Noah turned back to Kaiden.

  “We will not meet again,” Noah said. “You have one hour to turn over all of Quill’s files, nano-bots, and software to Rio and
to submit yourself for reconditioning. If you fail to comply, you will be terminated.”

  The screen flashed, and Kaiden found himself staring at a flickering blue screen.

  “Wait!” Kaiden called. “What’s reconditioning?”

  The door swished open behind him. Iris and Greyson entered.

  Kaiden stiffened. “What are you two doing here?” His hand drifted to his sidearm. Greyson and Iris both wore the ear receivers they usually wore when on missions and had their weapons with the safeties off. They were ready for combat.

  Greyson raised a finger to his lips. “Our orders are to escort you back to your room.” He gestured with his head toward the door. Kaiden hesitated. Where were the guards that brought him here?

  “Did you do it?” Kaiden demanded of Iris. “Did you kill Quill?”

  Iris’s black hair was cut short, almost shaved. The tattoo of the sniper rifle showed underneath her short shirtsleeve, deep blue against her light brown skin. Her nostrils flared, and she strode up to him, standing nose to nose. “Believe me,” she said, “if I had shot at you, you would be dead. I never miss. Ever.”

  “Then who did it?”

  “I didn’t have any live ammo,” Iris growled.

  Greyson grabbed Kaiden by the arm and dragged him through the door. “Look,” he said in a low whisper when they were outside in the hallway, and the door closed behind them, “we’re taking a big risk coming to get you.”

  “I thought you had orders,” Kaiden said.

  “We do,” Greyson said. “When we heard they’d arrested you, we volunteered to escort you.”

  “Why?”

  Greyson glanced at Iris. “You’re our team leader,” he said as if that was explanation enough. “Now, come on before Rio gets suspicious.”

  They marched down the busy corridors for a good fifteen minutes before Greyson yanked him to a sudden stop and placed a hand on his ear.

  “Yes, sir,” Greyson said. “A body, sir? Where? Right. We’re on our way.”

  “Sorry, Captain,” he said to Kaiden. “A body seems to have appeared where it doesn’t belong. We’ll circle back to your room if we can. If not, Willow will know where to find us. Good luck.” And he and Iris sprinted down the corridor.

  Kaiden stared after them, trying to figure out what had just happened. Iris denied killing Quill, but he still had a gut feeling she had been involved. And Greyson was being unusually polite. Why would Willow know where to find them? A few people edged past him, glancing at him curiously. It wasn’t every day you saw a security officer standing alone, staring down a hallway. Still, he hesitated.

  Should he follow Greyson and Iris to verify that the body of the man Jade had killed had already been found? No, Noah had given him one hour. If he was going to save himself and his friends, he needed to act now. Kaiden clicked on his wrist terminal as he broke into a jog.

  “Willow?” he said. “Birch? Jade?”

  “Where have you been?” Birch’s voice crackled from his wrist terminal.

  “I’ll explain later.”

  “There is no later,” Birch said. “Did Greyson and Iris find you?”

  “Yeah.”

  “He’s gone.” It was Jade’s voice.

  “Who?”

  “Colt. He’s gone.”

  “Meet me in my room,” Kaiden said. “Use the DWJ.” He wasn’t even sure the things worked anymore after what Noah said, but maybe the old man was exaggerating.

  He sprinted through the corridors, surprised to find security personnel out in force. He knew most of them, but he couldn’t understand why a single body would generate this kind of response.

  When he burst through the door of his room, he found Willow there. She glanced at him and stuffed the last of Quill’s equipment into a backpack. She wore a black security uniform that fit her like a glove, and her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Kaiden slid to a stop and stared at her. Without her lab coat, she was really beautiful.

  “What are you doing?” Kaiden demanded.

  “It’s time to go,” Willow said.

  “Noah knows everything,” Kaiden said. “He’s probably listening to us right now.”

  “So, it’s time to go,” Willow repeated.

  She was right. “We’ll try Birch’s escape plan,” he said.

  Willow handed him the backpack. “I worked out a backup plan if that doesn’t work.” She gestured to the short, automatic security rifle Model 35. This one didn’t have the features of the 45, but it was a fast shooting, accurate, and dependable rifle. Kaiden had trained with it, and, until the 45 came out, it had been his rifle of choice. A pile of loaded clips rested on the table.

  “Do we really want to try to fight our way out of here?” Kaiden asked.

  “I’m not going to fight,” Willow said. She wrinkled her nose playfully. “You are. Now, suit up.” She checked her wrist terminal. “They’ll be here in a couple of minutes.”

  “Are you prepared to kill our own people?” Kaiden asked as he eyed the loaded clips. He had never liked cloning much, but he had felt pity for the clones and didn’t want to kill them, especially now that he understood what had happened to them—now that he was one of them.

  “You think they’ll hesitate to kill us?” Willow asked.

  Kaiden frowned. After what Noah just told him, he was certain they wouldn’t.

  “Anyway,” Willow said, “those are all loaded with tranquilizers. Hopefully, they’ll get us out.”

  Kaiden hesitated. Things were moving so fast. He had never known anything but TAP. Even if they could somehow escape the compound, how were they going to survive? Where would they go? They needed time to prepare, to organize. He hadn’t had time to review Birch’s escape idea. You just didn’t go into a major operation like this without contingency plans. He knew enough about the world outside of TAP to understand that food and water were precious commodities and in very short supply. He also knew that the cities were filled with violent, desperate people.

  “This is crazy,” he said.

  Willow smirked. “You have less than an hour before you’re dead,” she said, “because unless I’ve guessed wrong, you had no intention of giving up Quill’s files and betraying all of us to Noah.”

  Kaiden gaped. “How did you hear that?”

  “I keep telling you, I’m not just a lab tech,” Willow said.

  She was right. He had been prepared to fight. In fact, he had already decided to fight even though he knew it was hopeless. But if they left TAP, how would he ever recover his lost memories? How would he ever find out who he really was? He couldn’t turn over Quill’s files, or Noah would know that he had involved his friends in his crimes. Kaiden cursed. His friends would have to come before his memories. He had lost too many friends already.

  The door swished open, and Kaiden spun, drawing his pistol. Jade and Birch rushed through the door, eyes wide and expectant. Kaiden noted the automatic Model 45 rifles in their hands and the fully-packed rucksacks on their backs. They also wore their black security uniforms. Jade’s black hair was pulled up in a ponytail to keep it out of the way.

  “Well?” Birch said. “Grab your battle rattle, and let’s go.”

  Willow glanced at Jade as if she expected her to correct Birch, and she gave Kaiden a confused expression when Jade didn’t speak. “Am I supposed to know what that means?”

  “It just means your combat gear,” Kaiden said.

  “Right,” Willow said.

  “You know we’re about to be disciplined?” Kaiden said. “All of us.”

  Birch grinned. “Flint is running interference on the discipline switch for now,” she said. “Should give us some time.”

  Flint was quickly earning Kaiden’s admiration. Maybe he was as good at this stuff as Quill, after all.

  “Where is Flint?” Kaiden asked as he swung the p
ack on his back and reached for the rifle.

  “He’s coming a different way,” Willow said.

  “Let’s go,” Birch said and dashed off.

  “I guess we follow,” Jade said.

  Willow and Jade raced after Birch, and Kaiden scrambled to catch up with them. As they pelted down the white-walled corridors, something kept nagging at the back of Kaiden’s brain. He was missing something. Something wasn’t right.

  Why would Noah bother calling him to warn him when he had simply ordered Quill to be murdered and made Colt disappear? Why not just kill Kaiden? And why the elaborate scheme to get Quill killed in full view of the public? Why not simply have him imprisoned and executed? And why had Noah left Quill’s stuff for Kaiden to find?

  “Where are we going?” Willow asked as they ran.

  “Hang on,” Birch said.

  Kaiden dragged himself from his musings and realized that Birch was leading them toward one of the lower airship bays. They avoided the elevators and pounded down several flights of stairs.

  “It’ll be on lockdown,” Kaiden called.

  “I got us covered,” Birch shouted.

  They burst through the doorway and skidded onto the hangar level, where the hallways were wider. Now, they could run side by side. They raced around the last corner to find the wide bay doors closed and the red security lights flashing off the bright white doors.

  “We can go down and come around through the loading bays,” Kaiden said.

  “No time,” Willow said.

  Birch never paused. She strode up to the keypad and clicked in the numbers. She stepped back, expectantly. Nothing happened. Birch keyed the numbers in again. Nothing.

  “I thought you had the codes,” Jade said.

  “I have the override codes,” Birch said. “These should work.”

  “Let’s blow it,” Jade said.

  Birch glanced at Kaiden. “Do it,” he said. “We don’t have time to play around.”

  Jade unslung her pack, set the tiny explosives, and rushed to join the others who sought cover around the corner and flattened themselves to the ground. The explosion rocked the corridor as the shockwave swept over them. Debris flew past them, and billowing smoke choked the air. Kaiden lunged into the smoldering rent in the door. He knelt on the platform that overlooked the airship bay. A guard rail obscured his view, but the stairs dropped off to his right. The zip and whine of bullets buzzed over his head and slapped into the jagged remains of the entryway.