Christ Clone (33 page)

Taylor was nearly in tears as she asked if the killers were ever found.

'No. Just another LA unsolved statistic.'

Once again they were silent.

They agreed it was time to leave, so Malone paid the bill and they left the café. As the night was well and truly upon them, Malone walked Taylor to her car. Her alarm remote unlocked the car and
Malone opened the driver's door for her. As he turned towards her, she moved forward and they embraced. Her sweet perfume and the feel of her awakened something in him he'd thought would never come back; he ran his fingers slowly through her hair and they kissed. It was a light kiss, but the meaning behind it was powerful. They held each other for a while longer before she whispered, 'Come home with me.'
Four little words to which he couldn't say no.

Opposite the diner, two men were sitting in a car in the dark. They watched Taylor and Malone embrace and then drive off together. They followed discreetly.

Taylor's apartment was on the third floor. It had two bedrooms, but Malone didn't get to see the second one. They burst through the main bedroom door and fell onto the bed, kissing like teenagers. She pushed him onto his back and sat up on him, pulling off her jumper.
He lifted up and kissed her breasts while he fumbled with her bra strap. Her nipples were erect, and he saw that her freckles made their way down to her chest; he kissed them again.

He eased back down on the bed again and she kissed her way down to his trousers, unbuckled the belt and pulled them off. She started to kiss him over his underwear, and he pulled her up to kiss her hard on the mouth again. It had been so long since he'd kissed a woman he wanted to revel in the moment. He rolled her onto her back and pulled off her trousers, exposing tiny briefs. He moved them to one side and kissed her.

She filled his senses. With each kiss she moved and moaned, the rhythm increasing until she was holding his head as orgasm overtook her. He moved back up to her mouth and kissed her deeply again.
He pulled his shirt over his head and kicked off his boxer shorts. As he entered her she let out a small gasp. He moved slowly and deeply inside her, wanting to savour the moment. They moved together, their passion building with each stroke, until Malone could no longer hold back. As the sensations subsided, they turned to each other and embraced.

Before long, Malone was sleeping deeply; Taylor had vanquished his sleep demons.

It was still dark when he woke. He dressed and kissed Taylor on the cheek, being careful not to disturb her. He felt bad about getting out of her bed and leaving her alone, but he needed to get to Logan.
Ripping a page out of his notebook, he wrote her a brief note and signed it with a kiss.

'Is this for real?' Detective Logan was reading the files. He had a look of total disbelief on his face. Malone nodded, and again went through the events leading him to Travis, and then to the meeting with Taylor last night.

'It's certainly one of your more far-fetched stories, I must say.'
Malone was about to jump in and plead the validity of his case when
Logan picked up the phone.

'Detective Logan speaking, can you put me through to Judge
Irwin? I need a warrant for a research facility in Sorrento. Of course,
I'll hold.'

Logan winked at Malone and returned to his phone conversation.

'Yes, Your Honour, it is important. We believe they're holding a missing local girl . . .'

Malone paced around the office while Logan continued explaining to the judge the reason for the warrant. It looked as though he was going to be some time, so in an effort to keep himself busy, Malone walked around the office maze looking for coffee. When he came back there were five men standing around Logan's desk, listening intently to what the detective was saying.

' . . . So Mary Salinas is our number-one priority. The Feds can pick up Travis and the rest of them; it's way out of our jurisdiction anyway.
I need you boys to get suited and tooled up.'

Logan spotted Malone's return. 'Gentlemen, I'd like to introduce you to Mr Michael Malone, he's been the source of all this information.'

The five men turned in unison to greet Malone. Quick comments that varied from 'great work' to 'hope you're right about all this' were made before Logan dismissed them.

Malone handed Logan a coffee and sat down. He picked up the files again and sorted through them. 'Tell me I'm not mad, and this stuff is real — fact and not fiction.' Malone's question was more for himself than for Logan.

'We'll know soon enough.'

Malone watched as Logan made calls to the FBI and SWAT. With the phone under his chin, Logan tapped away at the computer, sorted files and barked orders at agents as they passed. Malone thought that if there was ever a case to contradict the myth of male inability to multitask, this would be it.

Logan's industriousness made Malone feel like a bit of a spare wheel. He thought about calling Daniel and telling him the news but decided he didn't want to miss a thing, and he remained seated in front of the Detective. 'What can I do?'

'I'd say your work is done here and you should go home and rest, but I'm sure you won't be keen to do that. Bishop!' Logan called to one of the other officers. 'Bishop, would you please escort Mr Malone here to the supplies room, and get him suited up for the Salinas job?
My guess is he'd be going there anyway, and we might as well have him as part of the team.'

A smile lit Malone's face and he followed Bishop out of the office, bouncing behind the policeman like an excited puppy.

Logan's mind was racing. Clones of Jesus, abduction, and murder
— it was like something out of a twisted novel. The trouble was, the story was too far-fetched not to be believed.

With the priority mission of retrieving Mary Salinas set in motion,
Logan set his sights on the suspects. Matters of jurisdiction weren't of the utmost concern for him, but timing was everything. If they apprehended Travis too soon, it would tip off Wainright, and that could jeopardize the safe return of the Salinas kid, and vice versa.
Maybe they'd get lucky and Travis would arrive to pick up the girl while they were there — two birds with one stone. Logan thought it unlikely. This would have to be perfectly co-ordinated. He picked up the phone and called an old friend in the Bureau.

For the third time since they'd arrived in Sorrento, Logan checked
Malone's vest. Everyone knew they were only dealing with a bunch of egghead scientists, but Logan didn't want to take any chances, especially not with a civilian around. Turning back to talk to the SWAT team leader, he asked if the agents were all in place and ready.

'Just waiting for the green light,' was his response.

They'd parked in a quiet cul-de-sac around the corner from the
Stemtex lab. According to SWAT, it was the best place for the mission
HQ. Since it was almost a quarter to twelve, Logan was keen to get the mission started before people broke for lunch, potentially putting them in harm's way, but they were all waiting for the captain to arrive.
Logan checked his watch again and, almost on cue, the captain's car appeared.

'Sorry Logan, been crossing I's and dotting T's.' The captain looked flushed but obviously hadn't lost his weak sense of humour. He turned to the waiting team and announced, 'Just to be perfectly clear, although I'm the commanding officer Logan is in charge of this operation. I'm here purely as an observer. Now would someone quickly bring me up to speed.'

The blueprints of the building were easy to follow, but the huge sheet laid out on Logan's car hood was proving to be quite a handful in the gusting winds. The SWAT team leader went though the plan one last time. There were three main points of entry, front, back, and the roof. The chopper team was on standby; the faint dull pounding sound of its blades could be heard in the distance. Logan and Malone were to follow the team going through the front entrance and then make their way past the three main labs to an isolation wing on the eastern side of the building. At best guess, Mary would be housed there. It was well away from the general lab population, and seemed the most obvious place to hide the girl. The captain agreed, then all eyes were on Logan.

'I need an update from the other teams.' Logan picked up his cellphone and pushed redial. As the detective spoke into the phone and paced around the car, Malone was thinking how ironic that the call being made to capture Travis was probably bouncing off one of
Travicom's satellites.

Logan hung up and turned to the group, his face full of anguish.
'Bureau thinks that something's up, there've been no visuals from any of the teams. They think there could have been a tip-off and they're getting anxious and want to move now.'

'Like I said, we're set.' The SWAT leader offered coolly.

Logan thought about it for a moment before deciding. 'Okay, let's do it. But I want you to tell your boys to be extra vigilant.' He pressed redial again. With his phone on loudspeaker, watches were checked again and the 'Green Light, GO, GO, GO!' call was made.

Everything seemed to happen at once. The chopper appeared out of nowhere, and four men rappelled down to the building's roof. Two vans containing the front and rear teams smashed through the security barrier and upon arrival at their destinations, the teams piled out of the doors and into the building. Logan and Malone pulled up behind the front van, and with the cover of the team leader, ran through to the east wing. As they went through each lab, there were people in white coats facedown on the floor with hands behind their heads. SWAT members were barking orders and giving the safe to proceed signal to the leader. Malone could still hear yelling and screaming ahead of him, but the surprise attack went like clockwork; no shots were fired, and the facility was secured in less than two minutes.

Logan and Malone reached the door of the east wing; a woman was standing face to the wall with her hands tightly fixed to her head. The muzzle of the SWAT officer's automatic weapon was resting against the nape of her neck. The SWAT officer nodded towards the window in the door beside him, and Malone looked in; lying peacefully on the bed inside was Mary Salinas. The SWAT team leader told his officer to stand down, and Logan pulled them both to one side. Since Malone had come this far, Logan decided to let him lead them through to the end.

Malone grabbed the woman by the arm and swung her around.
Her badge read 'Beverly'.

'Beverly, is that your name?' Malone asked.

The woman was visibly shaking but she nodded.

'Well, Beverly — open the door, NOW.' Malone's voice was stern and unwavering.

Beverly fished the keys out of her pocket, struggling to find the right one. She opened the door and they pushed past her.

Malone walked slowly toward the girl on the bed; she was the picture of innocence. As he moved forward, he looked at the monitors attached to her. The heart monitor had a resting heart rate of 62 bpm and the word 'normal' displayed below it. He looked back at Beverly.
'How is she?' he spoke quietly but firmly.

'She's heavily sedated, but she's okay. I've made sure that she's been kept safe, I promise.' Beverly replied shakily.

Malone went to the bedside and picked up her hand. Mary's eyes eased open, and she blinked slowly.

He spoke softly to her. 'Hello Mary, my name is Michael Malone,
I am here to take you home.' He was trying to fight back his tears and he swallowed hard. Mary gave a small smile and drifted back into sleep.

Malone turned to Beverly. She was starting to cry. 'I never hurt her,
I made sure nothing happened to her I swear. I just . . .'

'Shut your mouth until you're spoken to!' Malone snapped.

The emergency crew had arrived and while one of them talked to Beverly, the other two went to work checking Mary's drugs and dosage charts. Soon they were disconnecting intravenous drips and attaching their own. Before moving her, the three medics made their last checks, inviting Malone and Logan over to join them.

'The good news is, she's in good health.'

Logan and Malone braced themselves for the bad news.

'It's going to take some time to get her off the drug cocktail she's been on, but all her vitals are strong.'

'So what's the bad news?' Logan asked.

The three medics looked at each other, confused. 'There's no bad news; she's been well cared for, she's going to be fine.'

Malone let out a sigh of relief and Logan pulled out his phone.
'Yeah, we've got her, and she's fine. What's the news from your end?'
There was a long pause as he listened.

'You're fucking kidding me. No one? What about Russia . . . ?
Germany . . . ? Okay, okay. Just call me when you hear anything.'
Logan snapped his phone shut. '
Shit
!' he yelled.

'What?' Malone asked.

'They've all disappeared: Travis, Wainright, Galbraith, Russia,
Germany . . . the whole fucking lot of them . . . vanished!'

'How? Why?' Malone didn't know what to say.

'I don't know! No one is giving me any answers at the moment.'

Malone took a moment and looked at Mary. 'Let's just focus on the positives. We've got what we came for.'

***

Once the meeting had finished in Travis' office, Wainright, Travis, and
Galbraith had gone their separate ways. Each needed time to think about his own welfare.

It was hardly surprising — the way the meeting had gone — that independently they'd decided not to trust each other. Almost immediately, each of them considerably changed his routines and lifestyles.

After the meeting, Galbraith had conference called the Russians and Germans and informed them of the date, time, and place of the unveiling. Neither had ever considered they might have to travel with their projects; they naturally assumed the unveiling would be conducted in their own facilities, or at least somewhere close. Travelling to the United States scared them. Galbraith told them that, unfortunately, that was the way it had to be. He also told them about the new contender, Wainright. This proved to be a fiercely debated subject, but Galbraith was prepared for it. He told them Wainright's project had been running secretly in the background as a form of backup and support, a place to test theories before passing them on. But, since the project had progressed so successfully, they now felt it should be included in the challenge. With some slick talking and sidestepping,
Galbraith finally managed to get them to see his side; he finished the call by giving them the private and secure cellphone numbers for Travis and Wainright — in case of emergency.

Once Galbraith had hung up, the Russians and the Germans continued with their conference call, and came to the conclusion that if they had to go to the States it would be best to travel together — and from a neutral country. Immediately plans were made for them all to meet in Switzerland.

***

Malone had stayed with Mary Salinas from the moment he met her.
Each time she regained consciousness, he was there to reassure her things were fine and that her parents would be in to see her soon. She mumbled things about her parents being killed in a car accident, but
Malone put this down to her fragile state.

Not long after she was safe and comfortable in hospital, Mary's parents arrived with Detective Logan. He'd been to their house to collect them. Malone met them outside Mary's room and told them she was fine, but resting. Mrs Salinas hugged and kissed him; she just kept on saying, 'Thank you, thank you.' Mr Salinas threw his arms around them both and squeezed. As the expressions of gratitude subsided,
Malone opened the door and ushered them in. Mrs Salinas burst into tears and rushed to her daughter's bedside, her husband right behind.
Malone closed the door behind them.

Logan came over to shake his hand. He could see the torment on
Malone's face, the knowledge he would never have his own family reunion, conflicting with the joy of watching his investigative efforts being rewarded.

'Come on, let's get a coffee,' Logan said, moving Malone away from the door. They walked to the cafeteria, picked up a couple of filter coffees from the machine and sat opposite each other at a table.

'You've done a wonderful thing today, Malone. Have you ever considered a career as a detective?' Logan was smiling as he spoke, but the admiration in his voice was unmistakable.

'Thanks, but I couldn't have done it alone. Aside from your help,
Daniel was the one who really made this happen.'

'How is he getting on?'

'Well, apart from this distraction, he's been doing really well. Like I said before, he's a good kid. He's gonna be so happy about all of this, which reminds me I must give him a call.'

Logan fished his cellphone from his pocket and offered it to
Malone.

Malone shook his head. 'No thanks, I'm fine. I spotted a pay phone by the door. I'll be back in a moment.' Confused, Logan watched as
Malone got up and went to the door.

Before long, Malone returned. 'No answer. Probably got his head stuck into a new project.'

Logan nodded. He still had his phone in his hand. 'What's the story with you and the phone? You're not up to something else are you?'
His professional curiosity was getting the better of him.

Malone didn't seem to know what Logan was talking about and gave him a puzzled look.

'The phone, I offered you my cellphone, but you chose to use the pay phone outside. I was just wondering if you were keeping something from me, or have those stories about them frying your brain got to you?'

'Forever the detective, eh Logan?'

Logan looked slightly uncomfortable. 'Picking peculiarities is my life. I just found it unusual that you didn't have a cell in this day and age. I'm sorry, Malone.'

'You're fine. You're not the first to point it out. Seems I'm in the minority these days. The thing is, if I told you the reason why you'd probably find it ridiculous.'

'Like I said, peculiarities are my life,' Logan replied.

Malone paused for a moment. 'The simple explanation is, whenever
I think of cellphones it brings back bad memories. It's like they're a bad luck charm. I know it's a stupid superstition, but I just can't shake it.'

'I don't follow.'

'It all goes back to when I was a priest and didn't have any need for a cellphone; my life was as near to perfect as it could get. Beautiful wife and daughter, lovely house, unquestioning faith — I had it all.
But, as you know, things changed. Mary's abduction meant I had to be available constantly, hence the need for a cellphone. The trouble was, no one ever called the damn thing. The old adage that no news is good news is utter bullshit. You have no idea what carrying around a device like that does to you — the frustration. The number of times I'd look and check the thing to see if I'd missed a call. But I never missed anything because no one ever called!' Malone was starting to get angry.
'That phone was always on, Logan, battery always charged. There's no way that it should have not received that call!'

Logan knew Malone was talking about the last call his wife had made to him.

'The one and only call that was made to that piece-of-shit phone didn't get through. What fucking use was it?'

Logan didn't know what to say, so he waited for Malone's anger to subside. After a few moments he asked, 'How much longer are you going to carry this grief around?'

Malone looked up. 'What do you mean?'

'This grieving; this self-pity, self-loathing — whatever the hell you call it. When are you going to wake up and see the good that you've done? You have successfully reunited a loving family, you've cracked what can best be described as a global crime against humanity, you've saved a young lad from a life of crime, and you've given a tired old detective a new lease on life.'

Malone's brow furrowed as he listened to Logan's praise.

'Yeah, you heard right. Before you walked back into the station
I was burnt out. I was sick of all the bad things people were doing to each other. I was too involved, and yet not involved enough; my gift for solving cases was spent. It was dragging me down at work and overflowing into my personal life. Then you returned. Seeing the enthusiasm back in your face, and the conviction in your story, was enough to renew my love for the job. You see, I'd forgotten that faith and belief in what you do is one of the cornerstones of life. My gift is solving crimes, but yours, Malone, your gift is your special heart.'