Sacred Flesh (18 page)

“I can’t tell you that, it would spoil the surprise.”

“I don’t like surprises,” he answers.

“This one you will.”

“I doubt it,” Roland says.

“Why don’t you fellows just chill out for awhile it’s a long flight.” He turns and walks toward the cabin.

“This is bull!” Eric says as the two clones sit next to each other.

“What are you worried about? It’s me they want. They will probably want to hold me for ransom,” Roland says.

“You?” Eric says.

“You don’t know who I am, my life holds great implications for the world,” he tells him.

“Not really,” Eric says.

“What?” Roland asks.

Eric turns in his seat and begins punching Roland who has trouble defending himself. The commotion quickly raises the attention of the staff.

“Hey!” the guard shouts while rushing toward them, once separated they are seated in opposite areas of the plane. Roland sits toward the back, licking his wounds as his face displays a few bruises. The two staff men speak in hushes voices as night arrives and the cabin lights are dimmed.

“Can you believe the little jokers are fighting each other?”

“Yeah, if they only knew.”

It doesn’t look like much, he thought while putting the box in the glove compartment of his company van. A locked metal box shouldn’t be difficult to open. It must be important to have been hidden down there or was it simply forgotten?

He drives home through traffic, it’s Friday, finally the weekend. Alone, some peace, he drinks cans of beer long into the night thinking but trying not to think too much, not to think about how different everything is since her passing, how nothing will ever be the same again.

Time: that great equalizer, no one escapes its effects; everyone resides under its influence. No exception to this is Jim Dunbar, who now, like everyone else is twenty one years past the experience that changed his life forever. Since retiring from teaching he discovered the fulfillment of his driving niche within the bio research firm he established not long after the reconciliation with his wife and daughter. He became wealthy when his ‘working flesh’ model soared to the top of the market. He was bestowed expert status in his field and with that the respect he always longed for. Finally, people cared and took an interest in his work. He wasn’t alone anymore and for that he was happy. But something was always gnawing at him, something in the far back of his mind.

It is no mistake that in every moment we possess the sum of our experiences and as that sum increases with the occurrence of every moment there are inevitably some experiences that we attempt to ignore hoping that they will welter like the pale brown leaves of a plant surrendering to an environment devoid of water, sunlight, and attention. And so Jim Dunbar carried with him all these years the experience of his dealings with the
Elite
. Though time may forgive it never completely erases such uneasy thoughts.

“Here we are gentlemen, your destination,” the guard says pulling the white van into the driveway of the large red two-story house.

“You bought us all this way to some guy’s house?” Eric says.

“Not just some guy,” he answers.

“Do you have any idea how much trouble you people are in? I don’t care who this guy is!”

“Oh, I think you’ll care.”

“Then tell us now why all the secrecy? It reminds me of my youth,” Eric says.

“Mine too,” Roland offers.

They walk into the house via the front doors. The two don’t speak knowing their escorts carry guns. They wonder if this is their end. But how could that be? Why doesn’t someone come to their immediate aid? For two people who have grown up accustomed to constant protection, this helplessness proves an entirely new and foreign experience.

“In there,” the guard points to the large white twin doors partially open. The two trade very somber looks.

“Go on,” he prods them forward.

Reluctantly, they walk toward the doors, pause then enter. If this is to be their demise then so be it.

“Hello, hello,” Jim says with energy uncommon for a seventy year old man as he rises from his overstuffed tan chair with the aid of a wooden cane.

They gaze at him in complete disbelief as to why so much trouble has been expended to bring them here in this large office in front of some old man who can barely stand up. They do not notice the great amount of papers and books sitting in the large walled walnut bookcases.

Everyone remains silent for a few uncomfortable seconds.

“Sit down,” he says limping to a large oak desk with twin chairs on the other side.

“There,” Jim points to the chairs as they slowly walk over and sit down looking straight ahead. Jim sits behind his desk with a slight plop. “Ah,” he lets out a grasp of air and then a bit of gas. “Oh, excuse me.” The two pretend not to notice.

“Listen old man, I don’t know what kind of game you think you’re playing but this is bull!” Roland stands up and pulls out the handgun which unbeknownst to the others he got off his bodyguard and had hidden in his pants.

“Jesus!” Jim says his eyes bulging open.

“Close,” Roland says.

“Now hold on a minute,” Jim shouts, holding up his hands.

“Where did you get that?” Eric says looking up at Roland.

“Never mind, this crap has gone on long enough. Now why in the hell did you bring us here? Who are you people? What do you want?” Roland yells, his face contorted and red, his hands shaking.

“You idiot sit down! You’re going to get us both killed,” Eric says.

“You’re sweating, you have every right to be upset but why don’t you sit down. I can explain everything,” Jim pleads.

“No damn it! I told you.” but before he can finish they all turn quickly as the large doors quickly swing open.

“Boss, what’s going on?” The guard pulls out a .45 from his jacket.

“NO!” Jim jumps up while Roland quickly moves behind the desk and grabbing him by the shoulder points the gun at Jim’s head.

“Drop it!” Roland says to the guard.

“What the hell are you doing? You’re going to get us all killed, do you realize that?” Eric says while still sitting in the chair.

“Roland,” Jim says quietly. “You wouldn’t shoot your own father would you?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t want to play your games. I want answers not mysteries,” Roland says.

“I’m not playing games with you. Please, just give me a chance to explain, it will all make sense then,” Jim tells him.

“Okay, okay sorry about the gun, but you can’t blame me. You’ve put us though a lot. You can’t blame me for being a little on edge,” Roland says having put the revolver down on Jim’s desk and walked back to his chair. The confused bodyguard looks at Jim and is quickly shoed away. The three sit now in silence, no one quite sure where to begin.

“It’s okay. I realize this is a highly unusual situation to be in,” Jim finally says.

“Very perceptive,” Eric adds.

“Forgive the stress I’ve caused you and all the confusion. But it had to be this way. I had to bring you here. I’m an old man now and there are things I’d rather forget about in life but I can’t forget about the two of you.”

“Why?” Roland asks.

“Because you are my sons, you are looking at your biological father boys,” Jim says with a wide smile and open arms.

They stare straight ahead in disbelief.

“I know it’s a surprise,” Jim says. “Let me explain.”

“That would be nice,” Eric says.

“First, I brought you here now because you were about to hurt each other. I guess it was inevitable that they’d try to pit you against each other. I should have acted sooner. I knew it would happen, please forgive me. It was a painful memory to recall and I know pretending like it never happened isn’t an answer. I should have realized that sooner,” Jim says.

“What are you talking about? You can’t be my father,” Roland says.

“Or mine,” Eric says.

“I don’t know exactly how much they told you, but I’m sure you believe yourselves to be cloned from the DNA of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.”

“Well, I am!” Roland says.

“You? You can’t be. I am. You’re a pretender. The sample you were cloned from was ordinary human flesh not sacred as mine was,” Eric tells him.

“Boys, boys I know this is a pretty big bubble to burst but the fact is neither of you were cloned from the sacred sample,” Jim says.

“What?” They both say in unison.

“I know this because I was the biology professor that performed the DNA tests. I switched the samples you were cloned from substituting mine own DNA. The first two samples I tested were ordinary flesh only the third sample which I never tested could be His; in fact it probably is by elimination.”

“You destroyed that one too?” Roland asks.

“No, but I was supposed to. I even told people that I destroyed it but I didn’t. I took the sample and hid it in a small church. At the time I thought about it a lot and finally decided that if it is His flesh then it just wasn’t my place to decide if it should be destroyed.”

“So, that means?” Eric questions.

“I destroyed the first two samples, though Rome and the
Elite
thought they both had the sacred sample, neither of them actually did. I substituted my own DNA in hopes of putting an end to the rivalry somehow. I just wanted the whole affair to end; my life was in danger after all.”

“You gave them both your DNA?’ Roland says.

“Yes, and from that seed you were both cloned and raised falsely believing that you derived from the DNA of Christ when in fact it was just me, good ‘ol Jim Dunbar.”

“That means,” Eric says.

“That means I’m your father and you two are brothers, well, half brothers I guess, but still brothers,” Jim tells them with a wide smile.

“No way!” They say together with a look of bewilderment on their faces.

“You do look alike,” Jim says.

“How could all this happen?” Roland asks.

“The
Elite
and Rome have been at odds for centuries for reasons nearly forgotten. This DNA flesh was an attempt by both to install a descendant of Christ as leader of a dominant world church.”

“And it failed,” Eric says.

“In more ways than one,” Jim adds. “I didn’t know this at first but I’m a descendant of a ‘lost
Elite
’ bloodline dating back to the time of the inquisition.”

“You have to be joking!” Eric says.

“No, it’s true. That was my response too twenty one years ago when I was told but since then I have been able to confirm it. My ancestors were
Elite
, thus according to the bloodline since you are my sons.”

“No!” Roland says jumping up out of his chair.

“Sit down,” Eric says.

“Since you are my sons, both of you are
Elite
too.”

“What does that mean?” Roland says having returned to his chair.

“Depends, the
Elite
split at the time of the cloning between those who opposed it and those who went ahead with it.”

“You said you hid the third sample?” Eric asks.

“Well, I hid something,” Jim tells them.

“What do you mean by that?” Roland asks.

“Another reason I brought you here is to make a bit of a confession.”

“What?” They ask.

“It is true that I destroyed the first two samples and substituted my own DNA. But when I decided to hide the third I needed a fake DNA sample to destroy. I substituted my own DNA then too so it would appear that I was destroying a sample. Well, I did destroy a DNA sample there’s only one problem,” Jim says with a worried look upon his face.

“What?’ They ask in unison.

“I’m not sure which one I destroyed and which one I hid.”

“He doesn’t know,” Eric says while sitting in the car that Jim has provided for them.

“How can he not know? How could you forget something like that?” Roland asks.

“It’s been a long time, twenty one years. He’s an old man now. People forget things as they age. Time eventually erases everything if you think about it,” Eric says.

“What, are you trying to cheer me up? This is all so crazy. I can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Yeah, it sure is crazy but we have no other option at the moment. He has given us the use of this car and some money to go find it, so I guess that is what we’ll do,” Eric says.

“He doesn’t remember which sample he hid and which one he destroyed. That’s what we got to work with,” Roland says.

“Which means it could still be out there: the sacred sample, the DNA of Christ our Lord.”

“We must find it and destroy it. Look at all the trouble this has caused and for what? If word gets out about this Rome and the
Elite
will go at it again, look what they have done to us, raised us believing we would command a dominant world church. All this could begin again if they both get wind of this. And if it is His then they will clone it and actually have a child from the DNA of Christ. Think of all the trouble that will start, people have already been killed over this. It’s up to us to be the ones who finally stop it.”