Sacred Flesh (22 page)

“I’ve been in bed for the last three days,” he protests.

“Does resting help?” she asks.

“No, not at all, I should feel better soon though, don’t you think? This is just awful. I wanted to get some work done.”

“Maybe you should see the doctor. I’ll call him.”

“Okay,” he says falling into bed.

“We think she’s returned Boston. She set up our contact and left him with nothing. She’s taken off to Boston most likely to sell the sample,” Belo says sitting in the church office, speaking intently through the many deep lines upon his aged face.

“We must get to her before she sells it,” Antone says.

“I’m going to have someone on the ground.”

“Who would she sell it to?”

“The
Elite
, who want it for the same reason we do, to quell any doubt as to the authority of the real clone. I have worked on this for a long time and all that time they have pretended to have the real one, for these twenty one years they have done so, but we always thought there’s was fake,” Belo states.

“It is, isn’t it?” Antone asks.

“Yes, of course their clone is fake but the problem now is that ours is too. But the world must never know any of this. The sample that is out there must be destroyed once and for all thus quelling any doubt. Our clone must assume the rightful place as the new Pope from the Sacred Flesh of our Lord and the
Elite
clone must be destroyed there is no other way. This must be taken care of and soon.”

“Very well, that is our plan. You said you are going to have someone on the ground?”

“It’s us. We are going to America and take care of this,” Belo says.

“We are?”

“There is no Sacred Flesh, there never was,” says Eric standing in the living room having been invited over to Jill’s house.

“What?” Melody says with a shocked look on her face.

“You two talk, I’m going to get us something to drink,” Jill says before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Well, there probably isn’t, remember Jim Dunbar?” Eric asks.

“Of course I do.”

“Or as I like to call him: Dad,” Eric says while sitting down on the couch.

“What are you talking about?” Melody asks, sitting down next to him.

“The DNA sample that I was cloned from wasn’t exactly Sacred, it was in fact just ordinary human DNA, that is I guess if you consider Jim Dunbar ordinary,” Eric tells her.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, oh no Jim Dunbar and me had a child together,” She grasps bringing her hand to her mouth.

“No, I’m not kidding,” Eric says.

“I was chasing the missing sample to destroy it so there would be no doubt that you’re the rightful leader, I was trying to help you but now, what’s the point?”

“But that’s all gone now. There is no clone on Earth from the DNA of Christ, it was all a lie. We are from Dunbar’s DNA; he substituted his DNA for both of us.”

“We? Who’s we?” She asks.

“I have a bother, a half brother if you will. Both of us are from Dunbar’s DNA and both of us were raised to believe we were cloned from the Sacred Flesh destined to rule a world church. All of which turns out to be false,” Eric says.

“Where is he? Do you know him?” She asks.

“Yes, we have met. We’re working on this together. He feels the same way about all of this as I do. Right now he’s back at the hotel. He’s not feeling so well.”

“I guess I don’t need to find the missing sample now that no one will assume the command of a world church, now that there is no Sacred Flesh,” Melody sadly says.

“There does remain one DNA sample out there and it is possibly sacred which is exactly why we need to find it. If it is sacred then it must be destroyed least we all go through this again. I don’t want any children to be raised as my brother and I were. The whole thing was wrong I don’t want that to happen again to anyone.”

“You’re right we must put a stop to it. I’m sorry I was ever part of it but the
Elite
—.”

“No, don’t worry it doesn’t matter anymore the past is past. We just need to take care of the matter at hand. That’s why I’m here to ask my aunt Jill to help us find and destroy the remaining sample. I think I know where,” Eric suddenly stops talking as Jill rushes into the room.

“Eric, you have an emergency phone call!” she tells him while handing him the phone.

“What?”

“It’s the hotel. Your brother is being rushed to the emergency room.”

“She made it to the airport,” Belo says.

“And?” Antone asks, trying not to show how tried he feels after the long flight to America.

“And that’s where it gets complicated.”

“How so?”

“She was robbed by two punks in hooded jackets. I have a copy of the surveillance video. I have friends here, lots of friends. If you live long enough in this business you know people who can do things for you. They took her bags I assume the sample was in one of them,” Belo tells him.

“You got a copy of the video? Who are these punks?” Antone asks.

“Just punks,” he says.

“So, these punks have the sample?”

“They probably just took her cash and credit cards. I doubt that they would have any idea of the value of the sample. They probably tossed the bag,” Belo says

“But where?”

“Close by I imagine. I know someone who handles the airport trash. They -.”

“You have a contact in airport trash?” Antone says.

“Yeah, it helps. I told you I know people. I used to work over here. It’s always good to have connections.”

“I suppose so.”

“He’s going to do me a favor and make sure nothing from that day goes to the landfill,” Belo says.

“Where’s it going?”

“It’s not going anywhere. It’s arriving at a farm not far from here. I’ve made arrangements.” Belo says.

“I could bore you with a bunch of high tech medical names but that won’t help you understand,” the doctor says grimly.

“What’s wrong with him?” Eric asks as he and Jill stand in the hospital hallway.

“When you and your brother were cloned twenty one years ago the practice still had a few bugs in it. Now, we occasionally see a case like this. It’s a defect at the cellular level one cell begins to shut down, it acts like a like a domino effect, small and slow at first then it grows as larger and larger sets of cells begin to shut down. Actually, this sort of thing is why they don’t clone anymore,” the doctor tells him.

“He’s going to die then?” Eric asks.

“No, not necessarily, as serious as it is surprisingly there is a somewhat simple cure. All we need is to implant your brother with what is called Source DNA. It has to come from the Y chromosome: the father. All we need is a DNA sample from your father and the process can be halted and reversed. Your brother will live and be fine.”

“That’s it? I just have to get a hold of my father,” Eric asks.

“Yes, if you can reach your father and get us a DNA sample then your brother will live. But please understand there isn’t a lot of time, this has to be done soon after a few days it will be too late.”

“That’s easy enough I know exactly where he is. Will you go with me?” He says turning toward Jill.

“Okay,” She says, “How far is it?”

“Not very,” Eric says as they hurry toward the exit.

Having hoped in Jill’s car they hurry to the highway and begin the 90 minute drive to Jim’s house. Eric nervously looks at Jill as she drives and then forward counting the mile markers as they seemingly slowly pass by.

“I wonder why no one is answering the phone,” Eric says putting his cell phone back into his jacket pocket.

“He must be sleeping, that’s all,” Jill tries to reassure him.

“Will he come back with us? He doesn’t have to but do you think he will?”

“Sure he will, to save his son’s life a father will do anything. Don’t worry, Roland will be fine, we just need to get this taken care of that’s all.”

“I’m not used to thinking of him as our father,” Eric says.

“I know this all must be very hard on you,” Jill says.

“You think it is easy growing up not knowing who your father is? It’s a painful process. All this stuff is so crazy I feel that if we can put it right then maybe me, my brother and our father can have some kind of normal life together, oh it’s up here,” he says as they pull off the highway and onto the exit ramp.

Before long they find themselves driving up the long driveway and then standing at the front door. Eric stops for a moment looking at Jill “Well, go ahead,” she tells him. He rings the bell and they wait until finally it is opened by a somber looking assistant who escorts them into the living room. There sitting on the couch they wait until Jim’s wife, looking pale, slowly walks into the room.

“We’re here to see Jim,” Eric says standing up quickly.

“We tried to reach you, I didn’t know where Jim had put your number,” she says.

“What do you mean? What’s wrong?” Eric asks.

“I’m so sorry but you’re too late. Jim passed away in his sleep the other night. He’s gone.”

“Oh no!” Eric sits down burying his hands into his face as Jill puts her arm over his shoulder.

“What happened?” Jill asks.

“He’d been sick, very sick for a long while, he didn’t care to admit it. It took me forever to get him to see a doctor but by then it was too late, they couldn’t do anything for him. He was an old man, a tired worn out old man, he worked so hard I think he just worked himself to death. You’re welcome to take some of his ashes—”

Eric bolts up, “Wait! Wait! Ashes?”

“Yes, it was his wish to be cremated, he wanted his ashes to be spread over the lake by our cabin,” she tells him.

Eric looks over to Jill as his jaw drops.

“That means—.” Eric says.

“That means no DNA sample,” Jill says.

“That means my brother is going to die,” Eric says.

“Maybe not,” she says.

“You sure about this?” Antone asks.

“Yeah, yeah I told you I was good. Now look at all that trash,” Belo says as they stand in the field outside the city limits.

“Who’s place is this?”

“An old friend, he’s out of town for awhile. I called in a favor from him.”

“I think the driver wants you to sign for it.”

“No, no paper trail,” Belo walks over to meet the driver: a husky looking man in his mid fifties with a pronounced beer gut.

“Well here you are,” he says.

“This is all the airport trash from the 27th?” Belo asks.

“27th? No sir, the 27th load went out to the landfill yesterday this is the fresh trash that’s what you wanted isn’t it?”

“The trash from the 27th has already gone to the landfill?” Belo asks with a shocked look upon his face.

“Yeah, like I say this is the fresh trash, take a whiff, even smells fresh don’t it? Hey, can you sign this,” he hands him an invoice.

“Oh no,” Belo groans as he clutches his stomach.

“You going to be sick mister?”

“Maybe not! What do you mean Maybe not? Don’t play games with me. My father who I just meet has suddenly died and my brother is on his death bed and there is nothing I can do.”

“Wait a minute Eric think about it. To save Roland’s life we need a DNA sample from your father,” Jill says.

“Yes,” Eric says.

“The missing sample: it could very well be Jim Dunbar’s DNA, if so then we have our source DNA sample and a cure for your brother,” she says.

“Yeah, that’s right. That would work.”

“Now all we have to do is find it. We know where it was.”

“The airport, those punks, they never caught them,” Eric says.

“Right, but
somebody
has to know them,” Jill says.

“Somebody in the hood, maybe”

“Okay then that’s where we start. I have some contacts. I can start digging around.”

“That could take forever. We don’t have that much time.”

“I know but this is our only option. Do you have any ideas?” Jill asks.

“No,” Eric says.

Sick, the way a dying man lays in the hospital bed: tubes, wires, hoses, all supporting life hanging on.

“His numbers are worse. His system is shutting down. Have we heard anything from his brother?” the doctor says to the nurse as they both look at Roland in the bed.

“No, not lately. They’re still looking for the DNA sample,” she says.

“They better be looking pretty hard he isn’t going to last much longer.”