A Heaven for Toasters

CHAPTER 21: Cavalry

01:03 a.m.

I swallowed air in hungry gulps.

Breathing became easier.

The crazy clone's weight lifted from me.

I rolled away, coughing. Leaning against the wall, I raised myself.

The Xhristina clone was lying on the floor, blood pooling under her body. I raised my eyes to see Xhristina—the original one—standing before the elevator, her hands holding my gun. A thin line of smoke was rising from the barrel. Her gaze was fixed on the body at my feet.

I stumbled over to her. "It's okay," I said in a rasping voice. Coughing, I placed one hand on her wrist and gently pushed her arms downward. "It's over now."

She nodded.

With slow, careful movements, I took the gun away from her and placed it back into my hip holster.

Xhristina helped me into the elevator.

Ed was already inside, hands clasped behind his back. "Ah, Detective. Good to see you made it."

"You could have helped out there," I said, my voice still sounding like an asthmatic frog.

He pursed his lips. "With Doctor Morgan gone, I am a bit unclear as to whose authority I should obey. Both Miss Xhristina and you qualify, so I waited until one of you emerged victorious to offer my services to the winner."

"How very brave of you," I quipped as I pressed the button to the lobby. I needed to notify the authorities of everything that had happened and to escort Xhristina to safety. But first of all, I needed to check up on Leo.

Ed beamed me a smile. "Why, thank you."

Whatever good qualities the so-called improved clones had, sarcasm wasn't one of them.

When the elevator stopped, we stepped out to find the lobby spilling with cops dressed in combat gear. A dozen red dots fixed on us.

"Detective Pensive," I yelled as loudly as I could, hoping my faltering voice did not cause our premature deaths. I raised my hands in the air. "Don't shoot!"

One of the men took off his helmet. "It's all right. She's with me."

"Captain," I cried out. "You're safe."

"Safe and well, thanks to you and your partner," he said. "Second time you two save my skin." He pointed to Xhristina and Ed, cowering behind me. "They with you?"

"She needs medical attention. As for Ed..." I glanced at the hapless clone. "I'll explain later. Is Leo okay?"

"I don't know. A bunch of techies from his company picked him up. Took him to some kind of mobile lab. Biggest damn zoomer I've ever seen." Captain must have noticed the panic in my eyes. "Don't worry, they'll fix him. They can fix everything these days."

"Can you take me to him?"

"I can take you to the lab. But first, I'd like to have the hospital check you up."

"No time—"

"I'm not taking no for an answer, Detective. You've been through a lot. Don't want to have to explain to your captain why I didn't take better care of you two. Besides, Leo's not going anywhere. God knows how long those techies will be."

I wanted to protest but a wave of sheer exhaustion almost buckled my knees. "Okay," I said. "What about Doctor Morgan? You caught him?"

"That was the other thing we need to do. I promised you you'd be there for the arrest. It's time to deliver on that promise. Then, it's straight to the hospital." He glanced at me. "By the way, his clones have been telling us quite the stories about him and his plans. Looks like we got here in the nick of time."

"I heard. So, where is he?"

The captain led me outside. Behind me, officers escorted Ed and Xhristina out of the building.

We went to the swimming pool. Kostas, the young policeman from the precinct, was sitting before the Stingray.

"Is that Sergeant's Stingray?" I asked.

Captain's brow furrowed. "It was never his Stingray. But no, it's not the same one he stole from us. This is a new one. When Kostas called for help, they brought one with them."

"How did he know?"

"Kostas? The EMP pulse knocked out the power grid on the entire island. No connection to the Network, either; just the emergency channels. So, he knew something was wrong. Then, your guide friend came to the precinct, saying a police zoomer had crashed on the Manor and there was a firefight inside. Kostas decided to call for a full SWAT team from Athens." He motioned for Kostas to leave and took over the device. He glanced at me. "Please, sit down."

I pulled over a chair. On the Stingray's screen, a map was showing. A blinking dot was making its way across the sea.

Captain pointed at it. "That's him. Kostas has already hacked his controls. Now, all we have to do is bring him back to us."

He clicked a button. A joystick and a keyboard popped up. Captain tapped something and took the stick in his hand.

The dot turned around. It flew in a steady course back toward the island.

"There you go," Captain said with a satisfied grin. "He'll be here in—" A shrill beep came from the device. On the screen, the dot blinked madly. "What the..."

I leaned forward to stare at the screen. Various displays flashed. "What's going on?"

"His engine just died," Captain said through gritted teeth. He furiously keyed in commands on the keyboard. "It's either a mechanical fault or he's sabotaging his own zoomer to escape capture."

With one last blink, the dot vanished from the screen.

"What happened?" I cried out.

"He's crashed into the sea. We have to organize a search." Captain jumped out of his chair and started barking orders. He took Kostas and pointed at me.

The man approached me in hurried steps. "Detective. I have orders to take you to the hospital."

I considered protesting but it would be pointless. And, if I wanted to be perfectly frank with myself, I needed to lie down. Every part of my body felt numb with exhaustion. I let him guide me to a police zoomer. "Is Doctor Morgan dead?"

"No idea. But every law enforcement agency on the planet is on the lookout for him. All of his assets have been frozen. Even if he survived—which, quite frankly, looks unlikely—it won't be long before we catch him."

Let's hope you're right. Kostas opened the door to the zoomer and I collapsed intothe seat with a relieved sigh.