Finding Fiona (16 page)

She walked to the McDonald’s next to the Times
Square Information Center. As she passed a few bleary-eyed
businessmen, she started to wonder if this was a good meeting
place. If Greg tried anything, would anyone notice?

Fiona pulled her phone out and called
James.

“
Fiona?” he answered. “Where the
hell are you?”

“
I’m at Times Square,” Fiona said.
“I’m meeting Greg Alaria at McDonald’s.”

“
What? Fiona, this isn’t a good
idea–”

“
I have to figure out what
happened. We can’t avoid them forever.” She was near the
McDonald’s. “I have to go.”

“
Fiona, wait–”

She hung up. She glanced around, then pulled
the microphone and her mp3 player out. She plugged it in and placed
it in her pocket. She took a moment to steady her breathing and
walked to stand under the golden arches, the smell of hash browns
floating out into the air. The thought of breakfast was completely
unappetizing for some reason.

She waited for about ten minutes. As she was
looking up at the Phantom of the Opera poster, someone next to her
said, “Elizabeth Normans?”

Fiona started and turned around. Greg Alaria
was wearing slacks and a button-up shirt. He was tall and thin, and
his face was familiar to her, just like James’s and Keith’s. She
had a sudden flash of the two of them fighting and him taking out a
knife. She swallowed, reached into her pocket, and started the
recording. She only hoped Sarah hadn’t told him about their plan to
record him.

“
Or should I call you Fiona?” Greg
asked.

She raised her eyebrows. “You saw the
article?”

“
Yes,” Greg said. “I was the one
who sent Sarah in.”

Fiona grimaced. “Clever.”

“
I thought you were going to show
me those scars.”

She held up her arm, where the scar from the
burn was faint but clear. She glanced around to see if anyone was
watching, then pulled up her shirt and ran her fingers over the
scars from the knife wounds.

Greg motioned to the McDonald’s. “Let’s go sit
down.”

They walked in and found an empty booth in the
corner. “You hungry?” Greg asked.

“
No. Let’s get to the
point.”

Greg put his hands on the table in front of
him. “Okay. How much do you remember?”

“
Enough to get you two arrested,”
Fiona said. “I remember the fire, being kidnapped, waking up in the
van, and being stabbed.” So, she was embellishing a bit, but she’d
had something like a memory a few minutes ago. They’d been
fighting, and he’d held a knife.

“
But technically, you’re dead,”
Greg said, smirking.

“
I know enough about the Remus
project to prove it worked.”

“
How are you going to do that? Make
another replica?” He seemed genuinely interested; maybe he was
wondering if she had the materials and memory to do such a
thing.

“
No, we’re missing half the
materials because of the fire, but I can prove the theory would
work.”

Greg chuckled. “They’re not going to believe
you. This is pure science fiction to them. They’d probably send you
to a mental hospital.”

Fiona leaned forward, placing her elbows on
the table. She had to get him to say something incriminating.
“Why’d you start the fire? Didn’t you know it would destroy most of
the Remus project?”

Drumming his fingers on the table,
he said, “The fire was supposed to be a distraction, but a shipment
of phosphorus
came in a day early. Within a
few minutes, that place was an inferno. Once they were dead, we had
to take you to Boston.”

“
You’re saying it was an accident?”
Fiona asked slowly. It actually made sense. She’d wondered why
they’d kill the people who had the information they
wanted.

“
Yes. We’re scientists, not
murderers.”

She’d said something like that a couple days
ago. “Then why’d you try to kill me?”

He looked out the window and adjusted the
collar of his shirt. “Those wounds were an accident, too. I took
out the knife to threaten you, but you were fighting so
hard…”

Fiona shook her head. “Another accident? Come
on.”

He slammed his hand on the table, making her
jump. He made eye contact with her. “Why would I kill you or your
parents? All we wanted was the Remus project; that’s all we ever
wanted, but your parents had their noses so high in the air, they
didn’t want to use it to its full potential. They shut us out, and
we tried to get back in, and the fire was our last resort.” He sat
back, taking a deep breath. “It wasn’t supposed to get out of hand
like that.”

Fiona crossed her arms. “So what would you
have done, just kept me as a hostage until I helped you with the
machine?”

“
I don’t know. We had to think
fast, and you were going to run to the police.” Greg pursed his
lips, glancing out the window again.

“
Were you taking me to Fillerton
and Company?” Fiona asked.

He raised his eyebrows, giving her an
appraising look. “You’ve done your research.”

Fiona shrugged. “I had to.” She thought of
Sarah. Had she been telling the truth in the car? “How did I
escape? After you stabbed me?”

Greg narrowed his eyes. “Stab is a strong
word.”

“
How did I escape?”

“
You grabbed some tranquilizer from
the back of the van. Got me and Sarah, and when we woke up, you
were gone.”

Fiona fell silent. Sarah hadn’t been lying.
She must have gotten Greg with the tranquilizer, driven Fiona to
the coast, and rushed back in time to blame it on Fiona. Sarah
couldn’t have told him about the recording, or he wouldn’t have
admitted to everything so easily. Unless he had another plan for
her. Her body tensed at the thought.

“
So, what now?” she
asked.

“
Will you help us with
Remus?”

“
No.”

Greg pulled a cell phone from his pocket. He
held up a finger to Fiona, dialed a number, and put the phone to
his ear. A moment later, he said, “Yeah. You have her?” A pause.
“Come on, Daniel, this isn’t the time.”

He held the phone out for Fiona. She took it
and put it up to her ear. “Hello?”

“
Fiona?” Hannah’s voice came
through the line.

“
Hannah?” Fiona said, her eyes
widening. She clenched her free hand into a fist, holding back
sudden tears.

“
He’s got us in the back of a van…
I don’t know what’s going on–are you okay?”

“
I’m fine,” Fiona said, closing her
eyes. “Where’s Troy?”

“
He’s here, but he’s unconscious.”
Hannah’s voice broke. “And the guy has a gun and–”

Her voice cut off, and Fiona heard another
male voice. “Give the phone back to Greg.”

Her hand shook as she gave him the phone. He
held her eyes as he ended the conversation with Daniel. When he
hung up, he glared at her. “Let’s go to Boston.”

Fiona’s heart pounded in her ears. “If you
hurt her–”

“
Give me your phone.”

She hesitated, but Hannah was somewhere with
Daniel. Fiona believed the fire was a mistake, but she wasn’t going
to take a chance with Hannah’s life. She pulled her phone from her
purse and slid it across the table. She thought of her mp3 player.
Could she risk Greg finding it?

“
Let’s go,” Greg said, getting to
his feet.

Fiona slipped her mp3 player out of her pocket
and left it on the chair. She stood up and followed him outside. He
stayed close beside her, and she hoped James found the player
before someone stole it.

Already the square held more people. Greg took
hold of her arm as they moved past an elderly couple. As if she
were going to go anywhere, knowing Hannah was with them.

She heard someone yell her name behind them.
She looked over her shoulder and saw James by the McDonald’s, Keith
and Sarah behind him. James started jogging toward them, yelling
her name again.

Greg stopped and pulled a gun out of his
jacket. She only caught a glimpse of the small revolver before he
pointed it at her back. “Run or I’ll shoot them. The black Mercedes
one block up.”

Fiona set off running with Greg at her heels.
James called out again, then a gunshot flew through the air. Fiona
screamed, ducking, and tripped on something. Greg grabbed her arm
and pulled her back up on her feet. She saw two men crouching on
the sidewalk, and alarmed yells filled the airs.

They reached the car, and Greg pulled his keys
out. He pushed the automatic lock. “Get in the car,” he said,
pointing his gun at James, who was still running toward
them.

“
Don’t shoot him!” Fiona yelled,
gasping for breath.

“
Get in the car!” he
repeated.

She opened the door and yelled at James, “They
have Hannah!”

Fiona scrambled into the front
seat. Greg started the engine and peeled out before she even shut
her door. She looked back in time to see James slowing to a walk.
After a moment, he turned around and ran back.
Please find the mp3 player,
she
thought.

The revolver was still in Greg’s right hand as
his other hand controlled the steering wheel.

“
I’m not going to fight,” she said,
panting. “I don’t want anything to happen to Hannah.”

“
Good,” Greg said, but he didn’t
put away the gun.

* * *

They switched cars at a parking lot in the
Bronx, moving to a green sedan. If the cops searched for a black
Mercedes SUV leaving the city, they wouldn’t find them driving
it.

“
You were following us the other
day,” Fiona said as Greg pulled out of the parking lot.

Greg nodded. “Where were you
going?”

“
The Medical Examiner’s Office. You
knew about the replica from Sarah?”

He nodded again. “You didn’t tell her about
it, but she knew your family well. She picked up on the
clues.”

There’d been nearly two months between the
entry that said the Remus project worked and the fire. How had they
kept it secret for so long? What had the replica been like? Unless
Fiona was the replica. Technically, she still wasn’t sure, despite
all of her memories.

“
You said you knew how the theory
of Remus worked,” Greg said, half-statement,
half-question.

“
Yeah.”

“
So, you could help us recreate
it.”

Fiona scoffed. “More like you’ll force me to,
right?”

Greg’s jaw tightened, and he shot her an
annoyed look. “If we have to.”

“
Why would I willingly help you
with it?”

He pounded the steering wheel with a fist.
“You know what kind of amazing science this is. That’s why we were
so upset when your parents kicked us out. And that it worked…” He
half-smiled, almost dreamily. “It’s incredible. It’s
groundbreaking.”

Fiona knew it. To think, there had been two of
her at one point. A machine she and her parents had created had
made another of her. A genetic replica.

She still wondered if she were the replica
herself. If she was, then she had a soul, a conscience. She loved
people. The mere thought of something happening to Hannah brought
tears to her eyes, and she could see herself loving James someday.
If she wasn’t the replica, then did the replica have a soul, that
indefinable aspect of being human that couldn’t be tracked by
science? Did she have free will, a conscience, love?

Either way, two of them… how would it have
ended? If the other hadn’t died in the fire, who would have had the
claim on Elizabeth Normans’s life?

“
I don’t want this to happen
again,” Fiona said.

“
You were going to go to the
police, though, weren’t you?”

“
Only if I had to.”

Greg glanced over at her. “It would’ve
happened again if you went public about it.”

Fiona clenched her hands into fists. “Well,
you solved that problem, didn’t you?”

They fell silent for nearly an hour. Every
time Fiona looked at the clock, she was amazed at how little time
had passed. Maybe if she spoke to Greg, the time would pass faster.
Maybe she could get an idea of how to escape and discern if he’d
really kill Hannah.

“
How did you know Hannah was out of
the house this morning?” she asked.

“
We were waiting about a block
away.”

“
Was this your plan the whole
time?”

“
No, we thought we could get some
information from them, but when you called me…” Greg adjusted his
collar again. “Look, this is years ahead of its time. Can you
imagine…” His face lit up. “So much could be done. The world would
never be the same. And if it was us who were connected to it?” He
glanced at Fiona, his eyes bright. “If you’re worried about your
future, you shouldn’t be. You and your parents are the ones who got
the machine to work. You’d be set for life.”