The Immortality Plot

The Immortality Plot - chapter 21

Delaney helped Ryan wash up and then she led the way back into her main living space. Delaney walked to the window and looked out over the color and street drama that was the Eastern Market up and to the right.

Ryan glanced at her watch. “I think it’s time we had a drink, don’t you?”

Delaney nodded.

“Thanks, I could use one. The more I think about the hair brained story of human cloning for the super rich the more it is starting to make a sick kind of sense.”

“Southern Comfort okay with you?” Delaney nodded again and Ryan brought over two stiff measures.

“Explain,” she said.

“What do you need a supply of to clone a human being?” said Delaney. “You need a supply of donor eggs and you need donor DNA. Then you implant one into the other and wait until you have embryos.”

“I think I see where this is leading,” said Ryan.

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‘Which must mean that the killer could be part of the bigger picture.”

“Whether he knows it or not.”

“It would explain the selection of the victims, with one exception. It’s almost as though he is being commissioned to kill but allowed to exercise his own vile fantasies to the full.”

“But there is no proof, and that’s the lawyer in me speaking,” Ryan argued. “So far we have speculation: a casual comment by a rich guy in Australia; circumstantial indications of a possible involvement by a humanitarian funding organization and a series of horrific murders. Just because Maria thought she was onto something doesn’t mean she was.”

“I’m hoping to pick up some leads at a seminar in New York tomorrow.” Delaney told her.

“Seminar. What seminar?” asked Ryan.

Delaney explained about the ‘Success Gene’ get rich quick event at The Harvard Club that involved Lifeforce and his hunch that Craig Martin, a multi millionaire and one of the speakers, might be either a satisfied customer of this Renaissance Project, or next in line for cloning. Even as he spoke, Delaney found it difficult to believe that such an insidious activity was really taking place. Although cloning itself had been the subject of experiment for many years and artificial human reproduction was theoretically possible, there had been such a moral outcry that it was virtually outlawed all over the world. What made this situation different, if it was true, was that it involved first-degree murder as part of the package deal.

Ryan interrupted his brief reverie by pouring him another drink.

“I’d better check out this seminar to see if there are any places left,” she said.

“What do you mean?” asked Delaney.

“I’m coming with you, of course. This is just too good to miss,” she told him.

“I work better alone,” said Delaney.

“Not on this occasion,” said Ryan. “You need me. If Rattin is there I will recognize him and I was the one who first discovered this, so-called, rich cloning club.”

Delaney didn’t reply. The fact is, she was right. And he could do with the company.

“Tell me about the missing girl,” said Ryan.

“Rachel Maclean is beautiful. She’s from Norfolk, Virginia. Her mother lost her husband and her son in an automobile accident a year ago. She’s around nineteen, I guess, and she was on an ecological expedition off the Florida coast. She went shopping for supplies with a bunch of friends and simply vanished. No clues, no sightings, nothing. I believe if I can find the killer I can find Rachel Maclean.”