The Perfect Clone (22 page)

“Most of the residents were born and raised here. They’ve never applied for a social security number, which means that they don’t exist to the United States government. Either that or they were loners that disappeared off main stream radar. They simply don’t exist to the world outside. There’s a prime example—” Luke motioned toward two ladies in the lobby whose heads were locked together in conversation. “Do you recognize either of the two women over there?”

Sarah strained her eyes to gain better focus. “The lady wearing the brown shirt seems vaguely familiar. Why?”

“Where have you seen her before?” Luke dropped another fry onto his tongue. He felt more relaxed sitting here with Sarah than he had ever felt before.

“Maybe when I was having tests done? I don‘t know.”

“No. She never leaves the compound. Take a closer look.”

The two ladies in question turned toward them and waved before they started walking away. Luke waved back.

“She looks like the woman that disappeared with her two kids several years back, but with different colored hair. She was all over the news. Her husband was a suspect in their disappearance but was cleared of any wrong doing.”

“Doesn’t just ‘look like’ Sarah, she
is
that woman. She’s in charge of the cleaning crew and her children attend school here.”

“But that’s impossible. She was declared dead. They found her bloodied clothes and her kids’ shoes in a garbage bag outside of Minnesota. Her husband had them declared dead based on that evidence.”

“Exactly; mission accomplished. They are dead to the outside world, but you see for yourself that she’s alive and well. Technically they don’t exist.”

“I don’t understand? Why cause her husband the heartache and grief.”

“Ha! Heartache and grief my ass!” he barked. “Her and her kids had put up with enough abuse to last several lifetimes from what I hear. It was by the good graces of our resident psychologist, and pure fate alone, that she’s here now. Julia, whom you’ve met, volunteers for a domestic violence hotline. After several talks, the two women developed a friendship. Moved by her situation, Julia made arrangements to meet with her face to face and convinced the lady to disappear. Her and the kids are free from abuse and have stability now. Not everyone is as lucky.”

“What about the bloodied clothes?”

“Easily arranged; it’s amazing the things a person is capable of when it comes to survival Sarah.”

“Does everyone here have such a dramatic story?”

“Not everyone. Like I said, she was lucky. Most everyone else that comes here from the outside are either in a situation like your own, or they were recruited based on recommendations.”

Sitting her hands beside the lunch tray, Sarah wasn’t sure whether or not she should be offended. “What do you mean…in a situation like my own?

“Some of the residents here volunteered for research and chose to stay afterwards.”

Picking up a curly fry, Sarah twirled it around in her ketchup. She wasn’t as hungry as she’d thought. “You know why I’m here, don’t you?”

Luke leaned closer to her. “Yes. Does that bother you?”

“Sort of; it seems personal, you know?”

“Listen, Sarah. I’m not in a position to judge your reasons for wanting to do what you’re doing. I’m not even in a position to question whether it’s right or wrong. What I do know, is that if you hadn’t volunteered for this project we never would have met. I’m glad that we did meet.”

Cara’s idea that he could have a relationship with this woman stuck in the back of his mind. Maybe Cara hadn’t been so far off in thinking so. Luke decided to test the waters and reached out for Sarah’s hand. They’d spent a week together while she was recovering from the attack in the ditch. He had conflicting thoughts about getting emotionally involved, but a part of him wanted to play with the idea.

“I’m not sure how you feel about it, but personally I’m glad you were chosen. I’m glad that I met you and I’m glad you’re sitting here with me now.” Wow, he’d relaxed his position for one minute and found himself spilling romantic crap everywhere. He couldn’t believe he’d used the word glad that many times in one conversation. Sure, he liked the girl and found her honest character interesting, but damn. He’d better slow it down. He didn’t see any possibility that the two of them could ever be anything but friends, and he wasn’t exactly sure ‘friend’ status was such a good idea.

Sarah squeezed his hand. “I’m glad too.” Not that their relationship could progress past the point of friendship, she thought. The condition of her virginity was now the central focus of a lot of people, but she was honored to consider Luke a friend.

Finishing off the last of his soda, Luke stood and gathered up their trays. “I promised you a trip to the market and I’m a man of my word. Are you ready?”

Sarah’s smile lit up the room. Luke would almost swear there was a halo above this woman’s head. She was so pure, so untouched, and so darn likable.

Cara’s words flashed in his mind. Just one year, if he could stick it out for one year. The project would be finished and he could go back to doing what he did best.

“I’m always ready, or haven’t you noticed?”

“Then let’s get to it.” Luke was determined not to let this girl get under his skin.

Their light hearted conversation made the trip to the market seem short. Browsing through the aisles, she found everything she needed. Sarah signed the grocery receipt, added her room number like Luke had shown her and handed the receipt back to the cashier. With cloth bags in hand, the two made their way to the elevator. They were ready to drop their load and catch a movie.

“Nice to see you kids are getting along.” Cara’s voice broke through their chatter. Luke’s body went rigid. He’d been caught off guard by Cara’s approach and that shouldn’t have happened. He’d been taught to always be on alert, even in surroundings considered friendly. Shit. He was sure to hear about this later.

Sarah glanced at Luke, waiting for an introduction. He didn’t offer one.

“In lieu of Luke’s speechlessness, I’m Cara. You must be Sarah.”

Holding up her bags to indicate that her hands were full, Sarah replied, “That’s me.” 

Luke finally cleared his head enough to jump in the conversation. “Sorry about that. Cara, this is Sarah; Sarah, my boss.”

“Thanks for letting him off today. He’s been showing me around. This place is amazing. We even found fresh vegetables in the market.” Sarah beamed.

Cara wasn’t one to waste time on female banter. “Glad I could help. Luke, I need you in my office as soon as possible. Good to meet you,” she said to Sarah. Cara nodded toward the girl and headed off toward the processing area.

Sarah pressed the elevator button but didn’t miss the uneasiness that she felt radiating from Luke. Shrugging her shoulders Sarah tilted her head to the side. “She seemed nice enough.”

“I don’t think she’d qualify for nice, but yeah. She’s cool.”

“If you need to go—”

Luke didn’t allow Sarah to finish the sentence. “No, she’ll wait. Let’s get these bags to your room.”

Nothing was said during the ride down. When the elevator pinged, Luke followed Sarah to her room. After she opened the door, Luke deposited the groceries on the table. “Well, looks like my job here is done. I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, I hope I didn’t get you in trouble?” Her concern was genuine and he recognized the value of such a kind gesture. He didn’t get that a lot.

“Don’t worry about that. Cara’s an A.S.A.P kind of woman. I’m not in trouble, but thanks for pretending to be concerned.”

Sarah pushed against his shoulder. “I’m not pretending.”

He could get used to these types of simplistic discussions, he thought. Being around Sarah was easy—natural. “Yeah, well, I’d better get going before I talk myself out of real work.”

“Before you go, do you think I could talk you into helping me add some color to my room? I could use an extra hand to roll some paint.”

Luke was walking in unfamiliar territory. He was ordered to hang out with her, but this was becoming too friendly, too fast.

“Hold up a minute, painting is pushing our relationship into new territory don’t you think? Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not the family type, although I am half way decent in the kitchen.”

“It’s not a date, silly. It’s a friend helping a friend. I can consider you a friend, can’t I?” 

“I couldn’t really say. I don’t have any friendships to compare.”

“Well, consider yourself recruited for the friendship challenge. I’ll handle the color scheme if you’re willing to help with the manual labor.”

“It’s a deal. Maybe afterwards you can help me with my place.”

“You’re on. Now you’d better get. I don’t imagine your boss lady likes to wait.”

“You’re right about that, she doesn’t. I’ll see you later, and we’ll catch that movie.” Luke headed out the door, conjuring up ideas on how he should handle things with Sarah. He wasn’t sure that he needed to become attached, but he did like her—a lot.

********

Luke entered Cara’s office on the processing platform. “You wanted to see me?”

“We have a situation. Frank hasn’t returned.”

“Returned from where?”

“He was sent to pick up a delivery from the warehouse two hours ago, he never arrived.”

“Have you checked his vehicle’s GPS?”

“Yes. It’s parked along the route. I sent Ben to check on it earlier. There doesn’t appear to be any evidence of foul play.”

“You don’t think he’s a runner, do you?”

“You can never tell, but no. I don’t picture Frank as the running type.”

“Has there been new activity from the rebels?”

“Not since we took out that farmhouse this summer. The Intel we gathered during the raid provided us with very little information. The rebels aren’t talking, so our civilians aren’t getting anything. We’ve placed new contacts in new places, but nothing.”

Cara lowered her voice an octave. “I want you with me on this one Luke. You’re the best tracker we have. Hell, you’re the best fighter we have. I don’t know what we’re walking into, so we need to be prepared for anything. If Frank’s a runner, that’ll be tough enough given his skill set. If he’s been taken by the rebels, we’ll have no other option but to go in and get him out. Ethan, Jessie, and Tank have been notified. They’re gearing up now. I wanted to give you time to tell that girl of yours that you’re leaving.”

Hitting the desk with both hands, Luke leaned over, furious over Cara’s snide remark. His words came out in a hiss, “She’s not my girl.”

In one swift move Cara pushed her chair back, knocking it over. Putting her face just inches from his, she opened her switchblade and pressed against his throat. “If you ever raise your voice to me again, I’ll consider it an act of treason.”

Cara, having made her point, pushed Luke away and closed the blade. “Now get your head out of your ass and tell that girl goodbye. She deserves to know that you’ll be gone. Regardless of whether you believe it or not, you deserve the right to tell her. Don’t screw with me on this.”

He ran his hand over his head. He’d never stepped out of line before. This whole relationship, friendship, whatever the hell it was, was new and he wasn’t handling it very well. “Regardless of what you think, you’re not my mother, Cara.”

“You’re right about that. I’m not your mother. I’m your boss. Now get going. We’re leaving at dusk.”

Luke’s gear was always ready. All he had to do was grab it on his way out. In the meantime, he decided to take Cara’s advice and use the remaining time to explain to Sarah that the movie would have to wait.

Chapter 20

The only thing revealed by searching the van was that the company kept clean vehicles, but they already knew that. “Ben, get it back to the facility. I want a complete work over on that damned thing. Find me something.”

Ben didn’t waste any time. He latched onto the van and made it ready for towing. Jumping into the truck he yelled out, “I’ll call you if we find anything.” Easing onto the pavement, the truck slowly took off, pulling the additional weight behind it.

Cara split the men up into pairs and sent them out into the corn fields on each side of the road. They were checking for signs that Frank had been on foot. She located a short drain pipe running under a small bridge in the road and took position there. She wanted to keep a visual on her men.

The cloudy sky was working in their favor, blocking out any light that the moon tried to offer up. It was darker than shit out, she thought. Operating under the cover of night was a real hassle but it was necessary to reduce the risk of gaining attention from the local authorities.

Lowering her night goggles, Cara gained a visual on the team to her right, watching as they scanned the ground for clues. Team one was well underway.

Without making a sound, Cara moved to the other end of the pipe so she could gain visual on team two. The sound of a breaking twig at the pipe’s entrance halted further movement. Her men were in the fields, so she shouldn’t have company.

Cara didn’t wait to ask questions. Equipping a blade in each hand, she dropped to the ground. Using all her physical strength, she crossed her arms in front of her body as she swung both blades behind the knees of the man standing with his back to her. The man’s legs, buckled under the pain. His own weight brought him tumbling down. Without giving him time to make much noise, Cara slit his throat and pulled him into the pipe. Patting down his gear, she removed the weapons and added them to her collection. “Dumb ass, didn’t your momma teach you to watch your back?”