CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“What sort of twilight zone, fucked up, sci-fi shit is this?” asked Luke.
“She’s real,” frowned Brax.
“Brother, I didn’t mean her. She’s as real as you and me,” said Luke. He stared at Brax, who looked like he’d just lost his favorite dog. “You sweet on that girl already?”
“No! No, I just want to help her. She’s a child.”
“She’s twenty-eight, Brax,” said Pax. “She’s not a child, and you know it.”
“Whatever. We brought her here to help her and protect her.”
“Right,” frowned Hex. “The agency is out of control on this one. Breeding brainiacs, injecting them to stimulate their brains, creating clones, this is a whole other level from their usual shit.”
The entire medical team stepped into the conference room. Luke had requested them to come and speak with them.
“Is she okay?” asked Brax.
“She was asking for you, honey,” said Ajei. “Go see her. I think she feels safe around you.” Luke nodded at him and watched as he left. He looked at Pax.
“Keep an eye on him. This is not something we’ve dealt with before.”
“He’ll be fine. I think.”
“Everything inside of her is real. There are no artificial organs, nothing that would have told us she was a clone other than the fact her DNA did not match any human DNA we’ve ever seen. Someone donated their DNA, but it didn’t appear inside of her,” said Gabi.
“And the seizures?” asked Mav. “I have to admit it was terrifying to watch.”
“I’m sure it was. What they were giving her caused those. I don’t know if they did that intentionally to keep her close to the school, maybe prevent her from running, but they did that child a disservice. I think in time, we’ll be able to get her off the meds altogether.”
“What I don’t understand is why they didn’t search for her?” said Hex. “Cloning her was something that could bring their house of cards down around them. There’s no reason in the world they would have let her just walk away.”
“Does she have any tracking devices on her?” asked Cam.
“Nothing. We searched for those, and then the tech boys came and did the same. There’s nothing in the blood that’s traceable, nothing in the brain. She’s not being tracked. If you want my opinion, I think they figured if she were found, she’d tell her story, and they’d think that she was off her rocker,” said Gabi. “They never anticipated that it would be us to find her.”
“Any clue where the other girls were taken?” asked Eric. “She said they would put two or three in a car, and the cars would drive off. That sounds like package delivery to me.”
“She didn’t say anything else, and to be honest, she’s been questioned enough for now. We’re going to let her go to a cottage. The hospital makes her really scared, although she does think Cruz is a hunk,” smiled Riley. Cruz rolled his eyes.
“Everyone thinks Uncle Cruz is hunky,” smirked Luke.
“I will kick your ass,” he frowned. “Just because I have enough common sense to smile at a scared girl doesn’t mean anything. Maybe if you assholes smiled more instead of grunting and growling, you wouldn’t be single.” They all chuckled, shaking their heads.
“Some of us aren’t single,” smirked Hex. “And I did plenty of growling and grunting with Gwen.”
“Ew,” frowned Mav. Hex rolled his eyes.
“Luke?” said Hiro, walking into the room. “POTUS is calling in for you.” Luke nodded, signaling the others to sit and not move.
“Mr. President, nice to hear from you,” said Luke.
“You might not think so when I’m done,” said the man. “Luke, the Deputy Director of the CIA tells me that he thinks you’re hiding someone.”
“Is that so? Who would we be hiding?”
“A young woman by the name of Katelyn Smith. Apparently, she was working on something for the CIA and disappeared.”
“She wasn’t working on shit for the CIA. She was working for G.R.I.P., and the CIA wanted what she was working on. We refuse to give them that. That’s all.”
“Just what is it that he wants?” asked the president slowly.
“Something that could cause war to break out all over the world. Something that could create utter chaos in governments, businesses, politics, even in the entertainment industry. But we believe it’s much more.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. They could hear him breathing, so they knew he was there.
“I trust that you’ll fill me in when you can.”
“You know that I will, sir.”
“Oh, and Luke. There were apparently three Rangers lent to him to get Miss Smith back. One of them was killed yesterday in a training accident. You might want to find the other two.”
“Hugo? You good, dude?” asked Forrest.
“Nope,” he said, letting out a long slow breath. “Right now, I’m in my truck headed west. I’m hoping to make it to Texas and disappear in the desert somewhere.”
“Don’t go there. Go to New Orleans. When you get there, let me know, and I’ll come and get you. He’s after you, isn’t he?”
“Yep.”
“I know one man is dead. Where’s the other?” asked Forrest.
“He took off the same time I did. Command knows it and is making excuses for us being gone. His family is in Minnesota somewhere, so he’s probably headed that way. I don’t have any family to speak of.”
“You do now,” said Luke. “Head to New Orleans, or we can come and get you.”
“No. No, that’s fine. I’m in Mobile, so it’s only a few more hours. I’ll be fine. Thanks, Forrest. I appreciate this, brother.”
“You stuck your neck out for us,” said Forrest. “I told you. We don’t forget shit like that.”