Friday, May 6, 2117, 2:16 a.m.
A series of soft beeps woke me up from a light sleep. I silently peeled off my sleeping bag and sat up straight, all of my senses heightened. The hairs at the back of my neck were standing in attention. I drank in the night air, heavy with the forest's scents: pine, thyme, oregano.
I tapped my temple. "Night vision."
Night turned into day. I scanned the woods. Nothing. I closed my eyes and listened. At first, all I could hear was my breathing. I waited. An owl hooted from a branch up in the tree under which I had been sleeping. From afar, a dog's faint barks could be heard. I opened my eyes again. The moon cast its silver light, filtered through pine needles and leaves. If I strained my ears, I could hear waves crashing against the rocks.
After two weeks of sleeping in the woods, I was well acquainted with the sounds of Hydra's nature and the comings and goings of its night creatures. This was the second time the proximity alert I had set up to let me know if someone was coming had woken me up tonight.
After several minutes of inaction, I let myself relax. Just another night creature. I was about to return to my sleeping bag when I heard the rustling of leaves. I pressed myself against the tree trunk and held my breath.
A long shadow fell on the footpath ahead. From my vantage point, carefully selected to make sure I had an unobstructed, yet discreet, view of the entire area, I saw the silhouette of a man approach. He was scuttling about like he was worried someone might see him.
When he passed before me, a smile crept onto my face. Gotcha.
He made his way toward the rectangular building that sat at the top of the hill, unaware of my eyes following his every move.
Captain had insisted that the sensors he had set around the water tank, the island's main supply of fresh water, were enough to discourage anyone from trying anything. I begged to differ. Sensors could be tricked. And the false positives would make anyone monitoring them from the safety of the precinct careless.
So, I had insisted he let me spend as long as I wanted here. Until now, I had Leo with me. But tonight, he was spending the night at the lab. After his near death at the Manor, they were further proofing him against EMP-pulses.
I touched my temple and connected with him. He was lying on a bed, technicians in white lab coats hovering all around him. "Mika?"
"He's here," I said, my voice barely a whisper. "Call Captain. Get backup."
He was already jumping out of bed, dismissing the technicians with his hand, before I could finish my sentence. "On it."
I took a couple of deep breaths to steady my nerves. Remembering my fight with clone-Xhristina, I decided not to take any chances. I pressed my temple. "Armor." As my metasuit strengthened, I drew my handgun and took a step out of the shadows and into the footpath.
"Doctor Morgan," I yelled. "You're under arrest for the murder of Sergeant Morgan. Put your hands over your head and slowly turn around." I fixed my gun on him, my finger itching to pull the trigger.
He froze for a second, then raised his hands behind his head and turned around to face me. "Detective," he said, his voice dripping vitriol. "To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"
"Sorry, Doctor. I was there when you shot Sergeant. The man I saw was cold. Calculating. I just didn't buy the accident. You caused the zoomer to crash by using the Stingray Sergeant stole from the precinct." I pointed with my gun to the ground. "On your knees."
"How did you find me?"
"You were days away from testing your bioweapon. You have an ego the size of a small sun. There's no way you'd give up on your goal of destroying humanity. Then, I remembered something one of your clones said. The toxin has to be ingested the first time. The easiest way to do this is by tampering with the island's water supply." I nodded toward the plastic tank. "This is where the desalinated water ends up for distribution. The entire island gets its water from this tank. All I had to do was bug the place and wait."
"You think you've got me figured out," he said with a sneer. "But you've got it all wrong. I don't want to destroy humanity. I want to save it."
My eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "Save it?"
"From itself." He stood up again but kept his hands locked behind his head. "Did you know I fought at the Asian Wars? I pursued cloning because of them. The things people did..." His eyes glazed.
"I know, I've heard of your experiments on your children." I didn't even bother to hide the contempt in my voice.
"We all did what we had to. God forgave us. He was on our side."
"Is that so?" I snapped at him. "What kind of a parent takes sides when finding out one of their children is trying to kill another?"
"So you want a world of peace and harmony?" He took a step closer. "That's what I want, too. A place where no human would harm another. At first, I thought my clones would be like that. But they turned out to be as bad as any other human being. They lost their focus. Turned against each other. So, I needed a new approach. But before I had a chance to research it properly, humanity banned conscious clones. All they cared for was procuring empty shells." His voice turned angry. "My children used as spare parts by aging millionaires? I don't think so."
"So, your solution was to wipe out humanity and start over with you as a god?" I pointed my gun at the ground. "Lie down. Now."
He shot me a furious glare. "You don't get it, do you? Humanity is doomed anyway. We're always one step away from annihilation. Not only will we kill each other, we'll also kill our planet and everything on it. My way will save the planet and humanity. How can you oppose it? You and I, we want the same thing."
"Down," I repeated, this time louder. I raised my gun to shoot above his head as a warning.
"Have it your way." Crouching, he touched his temple. Just like that, he was gone.
Wang bad an! He's got a metasuit.
I pointed my gun to where he was standing and pressed the trigger.
Bang!
Invisible hands pushed me backward. I landed on my back, then jumped up again, twirling around with my gun pointing at the empty air. I touched my temple. "Chamel—"
Before I could give the command, everything turned as black as the night sky. A shriek deafened me. My mind flashed back to the first time I'd set foot on the island, to the little trick Xhristina's clone had played on us. I should have known it was Doctor Morgan who had taught her that. My hololenses struggled to compensate but I knew it was no use. Much as I hated it, there was only one thing I could do. I touched my temple. "Hololens, off," I shouted.
Nothing. His little trick had completely frozen my hololens.
The world was black. I felt rather than saw the branch swinging at me. I ducked. It scratched my head. A punch in the chest caught my breath. I held fast to my gun and fired a shot ahead of me.
Bang!
The lack of any further sound told me I had missed.
My mind spinning with the piercing scream in my ears, I pressed my fingers against both temples and waited for three seconds. The shrieking finally stopped as my hololens switched off.
An elbow landed on my back. Agonizing pain radiated between my shoulder blades. I sank to my knees.
A powerful kick to my stomach threw me on the ground. Were it not for the metasuit, it would have ruptured a few organs for sure. Even with the armor on, pain engulfed me, threatening to swallow me.
Years of training kicked in. Instead of staying down or getting up, I rolled on the ground. Raising both hands, I blindly lifted my handgun and fired repeated shots in a wide arc ahead of me.
A bullet must have struck the electronics of Doctor Morgan's metasuit. The camouflage faded away. He was standing a foot away, ready to kick my face. He stumbled backward, clutching his chest. With a groan, he fell on his back.
"You... shot... me," he said in rasped breaths.
I raised myself to my feet with a loud groan, every inch of my body aching. "You'll live."
A whooshing sound alerted me to the approaching zoomer. Lights turned night into day.
"This is the police," a voice announced on a loudspeaker. "Doctor Morgan, you are under arrest."
"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, waving dismissively in their direction. "Now you show up."
The zoomer landed next to us. The captain jumped out, then Leo. More policemen followed them.
"He's wounded," I shouted to be heard over the sound of the zoomer's engine and the commotion.
Captain raised his thumb. "Great job, Detective."
Leo stood close enough for me to feel the heat from his body. "Are you okay?"
I know it was me who had stressed the importance of keeping appearances, but I ached for the feeling of his arms around me. Instead, all I could offer was a nod. "Never better."
Captain drew a vial from one of Doctor Morgan's pockets. He raised it in the air. "Detective. Looks like you were right. I'll bet this is the toxin."
I gave him a thumbs-up, mimicking his earlier gesture. "Make sure it stays safe."
"Will do." Captain waved over two policemen carrying a stretcher.
They placed Doctor Morgan on it and rushed him into the zoomer. Within minutes, the area was empty again, everyone crammed inside the large zoomer.
"Are you coming?" Captain shouted at Leo and me.
"Is it all right if we walk back?" I asked Leo.
"It's perfect," he said.
I waved to Captain to take off. "We'll walk. See you in the morning."
Captain waved back at me and the zoomer's door slid shut. It took off in the direction of the hospital. We were finally alone.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here," Leo said, taking me in his arms. "Are you injured?"
"Just my pride. I almost lost him. If he'd run away instead of attacking me, we might never have found him again."
"He had a mission to complete," Leo pointed out. "Where do you think he was hiding?"
"My guess? Clonesville. The only place where we could never find him. What would we use to do so, DNA?"
"But I thought he didn't get along with his clones?"
"Just because he doesn't get along with Guide, it doesn't mean he doesn't get along with any clone. They're all different, remember?"
Reluctantly, I pried myself from his arms and picked up my sleeping bag. We started down the path that would lead us back to Old Town.
"What do you want to do now?" Leo asked.
"First, a shower. Then, I'd like nothing more than to sleep in a bed again. Sleeping in a sleeping bag isn't my idea of a dream vacation. After that..." I yawned loudly. "You know, our hotel room might be perfect to explore something you suggested a while ago. After all, I feel bad for making you sleep on that chair all the time. It's time we shared the bed. And place. Time and place."
He frowned for a second, then his face lit up. He wrapped his arm around me. "Time and place. I'd like that."
I let my sleeping bag drop to the ground. Cupping his face with my hand, I leaned in toward him. "Time and place," I repeated and wrapped my arms around him as our lips touched.