Monkey Games
By Vince Coyner
Chapter 10. Escape
Laura knew she had to find the lab quickly. She walked into the foyer and over to the security guard’s desk. “Hi” she said to Patrick, one of the slower, but likable guards. Laura knew Patrick from Boston where she had spent a month reconfiguring their security plans a couple years before. He was a nice young man who joined Alexander Resources after graduating high school. They had eaten lunch together, along with others, every Thursday while she was there. He sat reading the two-month-old copy of Sports Illustrated he had brought with him from home. Security personnel on the island typically rotated from various Alexander Research facilities every three months. To the company’s approximately 250 security personnel, three months on an island paradise was one of the perks of the job. As there had never once been a security threat, it was more a vacation than a deployment, particularly as spouses were not allowed. “Hi Laura” Patrick responded with a smile. “I’d heard you were here.” “Well, actually, a corporate emergency has come up and I’m on my way to catch my plane but Dr. Smith wanted to see me for a moment before I leave. He said he’s in the lab but I haven’t been here long enough to figure out where it is. Can you help me?” she asked as her arms made a sweeping motion towards the three hallways she had not been down. “It’s that hallway there.” he said pointing towards the first hallway on the left. “The lab is near the end on the left, before you get to the metal doors.” “Thank you Patrick” She said, as she moved quickly in the direction of the hallway, but not so quickly as to attract attention.
Patrick was of course right and she found the lab at the end on the left. She could see through the glass window that the room was a reception or prep area, where a nurse might take one’s vitals before the doctor came in. At the center of the room was a cushioned chair similar to one in a dentist’s office where the patient could sit and feel comfortable while pulse and blood pressure were taken. The room was largely devoid of any intimidating medical equipment and looked rather warm and welcoming. That was no doubt by design. Seeing that the room was empty, Laura walked in. She closed and locked the door behind her and immediately closed the blinds so that anyone passing down the hall could not see inside. She crossed the room and stopped on the far side near another panel window, this one looking in on the lab itself with its phalanx of medical and diagnostic equipment. In the middle of the lab was a medical table. Jonathan was lying on it naked, except for a towel. His eyes were closed. Behind him, facing the far wall was David Smith and two other doctors who she didn’t know. They were examining some kind of sample, each taking turns looking through a microscope. She knew that with their backs turned now was the time to act. She removed the short barrel 9-mm Browning automatic from the holster under her shoulder. She slowly pushed the swinging door open, sure the door would squeak and give her away. To her surprise and thankfulness, the well-oiled door didn’t make a sound. She walked through and guided it back with her left and as she pointed the weapon at the men who were oblivious to her presence ten feet behind them. “No, you’re not seeing it” David said to the doctor who was looking through the microscope. “It’s in the upper half on the right” he said, referring to something Laura could care less about although she was thankful for the cover David’s voice provided as she stepped towards Jonathan. She touched his arm, but there was no movement. She squeezed it a second time, this time very hard but still no response. She looked over at the shelf near Jonathan’s head. Sitting on it was a syringe. Next to the syringe was one of those medicine bottles with the rubber top with the hole in it so that medicine can be drawn into the syringe by the needle. Laura picked up the bottle and looked at the label, which read “ACX”. She dropped the bottle and looked at the three doctors facing away from her. “You sons of bitches” she said in a low but unmistakably dark tone “Turn around now.” The startled trio turned around in unison. Their eyes grew as large as silver dollars as all three focused on the gun pointed at them. “Laura” David said, “what are you doing.” “Shut up David” she replied pointing the gun directly at him. She had read about ACX the night before in the Monkey Games file. It’s a tranquilizer used to slow the body’s bloodflow and metabolism to levels necessary for the body to survive the trauma induced by the transplant. Apparently it was a slow moving drug and it takes three days for it to fully take effect. She remembered in the file that it said that unless the subject was completely immobile it could not work. Moving about would cause the body’s heartbeat and bloodflow to move too quickly for the drug to take effect. She knew she had to get Jonathan up and moving. “Do you have an antidote to this stuff?” she asked nodding her head towards the bottle of ACX. All three simultaneously shook their heads. Knowing from the file that if she could wake him before it fully took effect he would be able to walk it out of his system. She had to elevate his bloodflow quickly to render it ineffectual; otherwise it would be too late. She leaned over and tapped David on the face. Nothing. She did it again a little harder. Still nothing. She looked up at the three of them and shook her head saying “Hippocratic Oath. I should kill all three of you right now.” Her eyes narrowed and she added as she looked down at Jonathan, “And if I can’t wake him I will.” She smacked him across the face, this time as hard as she could remember ever hitting someone. “Wake up damnit!” she said “Wake up!” Nothing. She looked around. Near the red biohazard receptacle for used syringes was a light blue cardboard box with a dispenser at the bottom. The box was labeled Ammonium Carbonate, (NH3)2CO3·H2O. Laura walked over and removed one of the thin Tootsie Roll shaped pieces from the bottom as the one above it dropped into place. Still holding the gun on the doctors she snapped the piece of what is more commonly known as smelling salts in half. She waved it under Jonathan’s nose. He began to move his head from side to side with a dazed look in his blurry eyes. He was groggy. She smacked him again. She pulled her hand back to smack him a third time when he grabbed her hand and stopped it. He had finally focused on her and was looking in her eyes. As he held her left hand he followed her right arm as it was extended out above him. In it he saw was holding a gun. He followed the trajectory and it was pointed at the three doctors who just 20 minutes before been checking his vitals had given him an injection. “What’s going on?” he asked her rather unsteadily. “There’s no time to explain,” she said in a soft but stern tone. She kept the gun on the three as she instructed him to get up. He obeyed, rather groggily. When he questioned her again she gave him a look that left no doubt that he should shut up. He did. She helped him to the floor and over to the chair in the corner where he had piled his clothes. He dressed himself although she had to help him with his shirt.
Most of Jonathan’s last three hours had been spent under the cameras of General Electric’s most powerful MRI machine in the lab in the next room. With over 100 pictures of his brain, the doctors had planned to create an active, three-dimensional map of his head that included the location, size and layout of every single nerve, artery and vein that serviced his brain. In addition they would have a precise indication of the rate of bloodflow to and from every section of the brain. After the MRI they brought him into the lab in which Laura found him and injected him with what was to be the first of a series of ACX injections. The tranquilizer was so effective and it slowed a body’s functions to such a degree that after a rapid examination a doctor might mistake the person for dead. It was a biologically induced state, not significantly different from when a body is suddenly submerged in freezing cold water. The body immediately understands that it must reduce its energy consumption so that it can survive the trauma. The only difference is that with ACX the metabolic slowing takes days rather than minutes. The benefit is that the body does not sustain physical damage or internal trauma that can be associated with exposure to freezing temperatures or loss of oxygen. Although their experiments had shown that patients could easily sustain such a state for a month without any negative consequences, they were certain the state could be extended almost indefinitely. ACX provided what was as close as science had come to the fictional “suspended animation” that had inhabited scenes from sci-fi movies and comic books for decades. If things went as planned, Jonathan would have been in that cationic state for the next three days. During that time they would have run a battery of tests that would build on that morning’s 100 digital brain scans. All of that data was to be used to build a perfect 3D model of his brain and its cradle. Alexander was scheduled to undergo the exact same process starting later that day and the transplant was to occur three full days later on Saturday. The physiology of humans and monkeys are sufficiently similar that the team was confident that this operation would be a complete success, but they were nonetheless somewhat unnerved by the unexpected jump in the calendar and the lack of a human trial. Unfortunately, Estaban’s death and Alex’s accident left them with no other choice. While it appeared that Alexander was as healthy as one could expect from the waste up, the reality was that the loss of blood pressure had put a strain on his heart and he could suffer a fatal stroke at any moment. Much like anyone who has suffered heart distress, it was possible he could live another 100 years or he could die tomorrow, there was just no saying. Alexander had come too far to take a chance with a few more months now. He was never a betting man and he had no intention of gambling when he held all of the cards right now. He had decided the operation would take place now and the team was ready to go.
As Jonathan leaned on Laura, the three doctors stood motionless. To a man they stood there, each one knowing they had made a pact with the devil when they signed on to this project twenty years before. Despite the obvious macabre nature of the entire project, each one had signed on knowing that this day would come. Not that they would be standing with their hands up in front of someone who was obviously more than prepared to kill them without a moment’s hesitation, but the day when they would be taking a human life. Regardless of the rationale each used, and each one came up with his own way of justifying the millions of dollars they had received over the years, the fact of the matter was that they had taken the first steps towards killing a human. Now someone was standing in front of them with the barrel of a gun pointed at them with the intention of stopping these 20 plus years of work. The thought of trying to use physical force against her never entered their minds. She had a gun and by reputation was known as a cold-blooded bitch if she needed to be. None of them wanted to find out first hand.
Laura maneuvered Jonathan near the door and leaned him so that he could look out the panel window into the reception room. She placed a wooden beside him so that he could steady himself. “Watch that door” she said pointing to the door that opened onto the hallway. She continued “and let me know if you see anyone.” She then turned to the doctors. “Turn around you two” she commanded the pair doctors whose names she did not know, waving the gun at each. “Down on your knees with your hands behind your backs” she continued. She switched the gun in to her left hand. She walked up to David and stopped six inches from him. She then lifted her knee into his groin. It landed with a thud and was followed by a whoosh of expelled air as he doubled over. She stepped back as he fell to the floor. The other two turned to look back at him. “What are you looking at?” She asked them. “Turn around” she commanded. She then knelt down next to David, “Now, David” she spoke quietly at ear level. “From what I read last night, once the ACX dissipates there will be no after effects. Is that accurate?” she asked as she put the nose of the barrel roughly against his cheek just below his eye. As he was staring up at her his eyes had become almost black as fear had dilated his pupils to almost double their normal size. He nervously shook his head as blood dripped from his mouth. She didn’t know if it was because he bit his tongue because of the knee to the groin, but she didn’t care either way. She rubbed the nose of the gun over his cheek and through the blood, stopping at his mouth. “How long will it take to dissipate from his system?” she asked, adding “Don’t lie to me David because I will kill you without a second’s hesitation.” As his eyes were furiously blinking, he nodded and said “One hour, I swear. He’ll be fine after an hour.” “Good!” she said, standing. “Now get up and turn around!” she commanded before looking over to check on Jonathan who was leaning against the door. Grabbing a one-inch roll of medical tape, she proceeded to tape the hands, feet and mouths of the three. Once each was taped she had each of them lay on their stomachs with their legs bent and their feet in the air. Quickly she pulled them together like three spokes in a bicycle wheel with their knees in the middle. She then taped their legs together. This would at least immobilize them long enough for them to escape. She grabbed Jonathan’s hand and they walked through the reception area. She lifted the blinds so that she could peer into the hallway. No one. She hadn’t really expected there to be anyone. She knew that the guards made their rounds but the island’s small security detachment was far more for protection from what the ocean might bring in the way of South American guerrilla boats than from anyone inside the compound. As such, rounds within the building occurred only a couple of times a day rather than a couple of times an hour at facilities that might have been under a greater degree of risk. Nonetheless she knew they had to be careful. They had to get off the island and they had to get to the plane before Alex or Albert discovered their escape. If Albert told Jack to leave, they would have no way off. She had really no idea of how long they might have but she figured if they could escape detection for fifteen minutes they would be OK. As she was opening the door to the hallway she suddenly remembered the panel window looking into the lab where the three doctors were now tied together. She leaned Jonathan against the door and told him to stay still for a second as she ran back inside the lab and closed the blinds. “Damn” she said to herself after she lowered the blinds and headed back out into the reception room, looking for a way to lock the swinging doors and finding none. Locking the door to the hallway would have to suffice. She looked one last time out the window and down the hall. Once they were out in the hall and the door was locked, there was no turning back. Satisfied there was no one out there she opened the door and helped Jonathan through. She locked the door and closed it behind her. “Can you walk by yourself, Sweetheart?” she asked the still wavering Jonathan. “Yes” he said with more hope than conviction. They had to get the airstrip but they had to get out of the building first. The compound was on the western side of the island, about two miles from the airstrip. Under normal circumstances both of them could easily cover the two miles on foot in less than ten minutes, but given Jonathan’s state there was no chance. She decided that the only way to get there quickly was to take one of the Range Rovers, which meant they had to get to the carport, on the other side of the compound. The first thing they had to do was to get through the foyer.
Walking more steadily now, Jonathan looked forward, although his pupils were still dilated and he looked like he had just woken up. As Laura and Jonathan moved towards the front door, Patrick asked if everything was all right. “Jonathan is having a negative reaction to one of Dr. Smith’s allergy medicines” she told him. “He spent the last two hours in the bathroom and David said he could probably use a walk” she continued. “I’m taking out to get some fresh air.” Wondering when his replacement would arrive and canvas the lab, she asked, “ Are you getting off soon? Jack’s delayed the flight a little while so we’re just going down to relax on the beach for a while. Would you like to come down?” “I’m here for another 45 minutes” he responded, “but maybe I’ll join you later on.” “Great” she said, waving as they exited the lobby.
Once outside the sliding doors she immediately looked for one of the four Range Rovers on the off chance they might have been left out front. Not that the facility really needed four, but much like the military frequently does, it’s easier to have one backup vehicle from which to cannibalize replacements than it is to have a warehouse full of replacements. “Damn!” none of them were out front. That meant they were probably parked under the giant carport north of the building. Keys would not be a problem as she was sure one set was always kept in the glove compartment, a common practice at most secure Alexander Resources facilities. The problem was that Alexander and Albert were on the patio and she and Jonathan would have to go by that part of the compound to reach the carport. The only way they could reach the carport without literally walking right by Alex and Albert was to go back and access it from inside. It would be dangerous, as the patio where Alex and Albert were sitting looked in on the hallway as well, but they didn’t have any choice, she knew they had to move quickly. They would have to chance it.
Patrick was surprised to see them return but any questions he might have were put to rest when Laura told him “I figured it would be better to keep him here close to David just in case. I think I’ll let him relax by that saltwater pool instead. Have you been in it yet?” “Not yet” Patrick replied. “Well, you should come by later and try it out. It’s rather refreshing.” Patrick, hoping against hope that she was coming on to him rather than just being polite, said he’d try to make it. As they made their way down the hallway that abutted the patio and led to the carport, Laura slowly looked through the glass-paneled door that opened onto the patio. It was one of those vintage 1960s doors that had a large glass pane in the top 2/3 of the door. She saw that Albert was standing behind the bar pouring he and Alex a drink. The doctors suggested Alex stick to red wine but he would have no part of it, at least not until he started the ACX. His preference was a Stoli screwdriver, and although he did not follow their recommendation on the wine, he did acquiesce when it came to limiting himself to two within any 24-hour period. Albert, drank his usual Glenfiddich, straight. Not the most sophisticated of whiskeys, but it was the drink his grandfather had introduced him to at 15 and it had been his favorite ever since. Although it may have been morning on La Playa Arena, it was still evening in Paris and they were going to drink as if they were still there. “Stay low” Laura commanded, as she and Jonathan crawled across the glossy hardwood floor, Laura looking back to make sure that no one saw them from the foyer. Once they were past the windowed walls of the patio they stood and opened the exit door at the end of the hall. They quickly crossed the 100 yards on the covered sidewalk to the carport. Just as she had expected, all four of the Rovers were there. They couldn’t take the Parts Shop, which Jack had explained was what they called the tan Rover in the first bay because it didn’t run due to parts being stripped from it to keep the other vehicles running. They could however take the blue one in the second bay. They jumped in and Laura grabbed the keys from the glove compartment and started the engine. She pulled out of the driveway slowly, now wanting to attract attention then turned left onto the gravel road. “Now can you tell me what is going on?” Jonathan asked. As he looked at her with his deep blue eyes, Laura knew that there was not enough time. “No, I can’t explain it right now, but you were not safe back there,” she said. “We have to get off of this island right now. I’ll explain everything when once we’re gone!”
Albert was standing on the patio drinking his Glenfiddich when he heard the Rover drive away. He would have not have given it a second thought except that rather than heading north towards the town, it took the gravel road East, and the only destination to which it could have been headed was the airstrip. There were no arrivals scheduled for today and Laura wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye. It was probably just the pilot Jack, checking things out before they left. Albert didn’t think anything else of it until a couple of minutes later when he thought he saw Jack walking towards the carport with a bag in his hand. Albert walked off of the patio and went to the lobby where Patrick was still on duty. “Was that Jack who just left here with a bag in his hand?” Patrick nodded yes. “Did he just send someone out to the plane about five minutes ago?” he asked. “I have no idea” Patrick replied. “Then who left five minutes ago?” Albert pressed. Again Patrick had to plead ignorance. “The only people I’ve seen in the last half hour were Laura and Jonathan who came through here about five minutes ago.” “What?” screamed Albert, knowing that Jonathan was already supposed to be under sedation. “What do you mean Laura AND Jonathan?” he demanded. Albert wasn’t even listening when Patrick told him that Jonathan had had a bad reaction to some medicine and Laura was just taking him to the pool to relax. When Albert reached the lab he knew he didn’t want to open the door. Knowing what he would see, he reached for the doorknob and turned. Nothing. “Damn” he said to himself “It’s locked!” For a moment searched his pockets for a key then realized he didn’t have one. “Patrick” he hollered down the hall. Get over here and open this door. As soon as he said it he realized he didn’t have time to waste. He kicked open the door, breaking the glass in the process and rushed across the reception room. He slammed open the swinging doors. He stood there astonished with his arms holding the doors open as looked down on the three doctors taped together on the floor. All three had careened their necks and were staring up at him anxiously. Quickly turning he ran through the reception room and down the hall. “Patrick, get on the phone and call Anderson at the airfield and you tell him that that plane is NOT to leave this island!” “I don’t care if he has shoot Laura of drive a truck into the dam thing, that plane is not to get off of the ground!”
As she approached the airfield, she knew they were too late. Somehow Albert had alerted Anderson the island security chief and he was running with a field crewman towards the plane. Laura crashed the Range Rover through the gate and headed for the plane as well. It would be close but she thought she could reach it before they could. The rover bounced as it bounded over the grassy field. Although the airstrip itself was asphalt, the surrounding field was very much natural terrain. As the Rover approached the men, Anderson turned around and fired three shots. Running as he was, he was as close to hitting his partner Milton as he was hitting the Rover. Laura shifted the Rover into third gear and pulled alongside the pair. She wheeled the vehicle to the right, knocking both men to the ground. She immediately slammed on the brakes and told Jonathan to grab Anderson’s gun. Jonathan half-stumbled from the Rover and reached down for Anderson’s gun, which had flown from his hand when he hit the ground. Anderson reached for it as well. Jonathan grabbed it first and quickly picked it up. Although Anderson began to wrestle for the weapon, he was no match for Jonathan, even in his slightly handicapped state. Laura came around from the other side and held a gun on both men as they rose to their feet. “What the hell did you think you were doing?” she asked.
“Albert called...” Milton started to explain as he and Anderson climbed to their feet. “Nevermind... Shut up.” Laura commanded, adding “It doesn’t matter now anyway”. She calmly leveled her gun just below and to the right of Milton’s kneecap and fired, successfully glancing rather than shattering the bone. He screamed and fell to the ground wreathing in pain and grabbing his shin. She then aimed at Anderson’s leg and did the same. She did not want to kill them, but she didn’t have time to tie them up and she could not take a chance of them somehow stopping them from taking off. Those bastard doctors would take care of them.
Jonathan just stared at her. He had no idea what to make of what he had just seen. “What was that?” he asked? Not even stopping to answer, she said “Let’s go!” She was running to the plane when she noticed that Jonathan was still standing by the Rover looking at Anderson and Milton. “Jonathan” she screamed “We have to get out of here now!”
Still no movement. She ran back to him and grabbed his hand and took the gun from it. Still he stood. She walked in front of him, gently put her hands on his cheeks and said “Sweetheart, we have to go. They will be fine. It is only a leg wound and the doctors will take care of them.” She glanced back over her shoulder at the two men who were wreathing in pain on the ground behind her. “It was either us or them, I didn’t have any other choice. Please Jonathan lets go. I’ll explain everything on the plane, I promise.”
It had been fifteen years since Laura had flown a plane. Her uncle Stephen had taught her over the course of two summers she spent with him on his ranch just north of Dallas. While she had always thought flying a plane was the closest thing to true freedom one could achieve on this planet, she always had a difficult time with the plane on the ground. The simple matter of steering with her feet rather than her hands was one of those things that simply never came naturally to her. She had always been an incredibly coordinated child having been the captain of the ski team in high school, as well as the New York State Woman’s Racquetball Champion in college. She therefore found it inexplicable and rather irksome that given her rather deft mastery of her own motor skills in virtually every other aspect of her life, she was so uncoordinated in this one. Although she loved to fly and she became a skillful pilot, she never became completely comfortable with steering with her feet.
It was not her lack of coordination on the ground that that had kept her from flying for fifteen years however; it was simply a matter of time. Her schedule had been such that it was always much faster to have someone else fly. Even if she had to fly commercial, it was invariably less chaotic and faster than it would have been for her to get a plane and fly herself. Besides, she often read or worked on flights, something that is particularly difficult if you are the one actually flying the plane.
She took the pilots seat and ordered the still sluggish Jonathan to lay down on the sofa. She turned to him and said “make sure you put your seat belt on.” The plane was the same one that had brought her from Paris and them from Aislado, a brand new Gulfstream V-SP capable of flying almost 7,000 miles at mach .8. This was a far cry from the Gulfstream III her uncle owned but luckily much of the instrumentation was the same. The controls too were slightly different but within a couple of seconds she felt right at home. As she wheeled the plane toward the runway she could see the dust coming up from the road leading from the compound. She knew she would beat them, but it was going to be close. She turned onto the runway and shoved in the throttle and pulled on the yoke. The pair of Rovers approached the gate just as the plane was taking to the air. “Yes!” Laura said as they lifted off. Although she could not hear them she could see two men taking shots at them as they passed above. Luckily neither of them was a particularly good shot. Once they had reached 2,000 ft she leaned back and looked over to see Jonathan already sleeping on the couch. Not sure that all of the ACX had worked its way out of his system, she called to him “Jonathan, wake up Sweetheart!” No response. “Jonathan!” she called again, again with the same response. Finally she picked up the cockpit microphone and demanded “Jonathan! Wake up!”. He groggily lifted his head and slowly focused on Laura. “Sweetheart” She said, “Come up here and sit with me. I don’t think it is a good idea for you to sleep yet. Slowly he stood and steadied himself before he made his way to the cockpit. Even if he was not still groggy from the effects of the ACX, the sight of that cockpit would still have amazed him. He had never seen anything so complicated in his life. As he sat down Laura could not help but look at him with disbelief. Just six days ago she was completely contented going about her comfortable life, with her great job, and the ski trip she had been so looking forward to. Then out of the blue this stranger, part little boy, part man and part Adonis walks into her life and now she can think of nothing else. Stranger still was her Kafkaesque awareness that if she had simply followed the plan as it had been written, he would have been dead at the hands of her boss within a week. While the plane was jetting through the sky her mind was spinning thorough the clouds.
Jonathan asked “Where are we going?” but she did not respond. “Laura...” he said, and still no response. Suddenly she felt him touch her arm “Laura... are you all right?” Startled out of her thoughts, she looked over and said “I’m sorry Jonathan, what did you say?” “Where are we going?” he repeated. She looked at him. It dawned on her that she had no idea where they were going. “Honestly sweetheart, I haven’t figured that out yet.” she said. She knew she had to come up with something quickly. Alex and Albert would certainly have someone after them within an hour. While they were stuck on the island without a plane, they had the best communications equipment available and Alexander had friends around the globe. “Grab that map.” she commanded, pointing to the map book beside Jonathan’s chair. He picked up the book and immediately opened it to the chart that covered their part of the South Pacific. Although he had never been off of his island, he was nonetheless well-versed in geography and quickly found their location on the map. They were about a three hundred and fifty miles off the coast of Peru, not far below the equator. With a full tank of gas she knew they could reach just about any place between New York and Auckland. Unfortunately Alexander’s connections made most metropolitan areas off limits. She had to find a place where they could lay low for a couple of days so she could figure out what to do next. She decided on Martinique, a French island she knew well, having spent a summer there long before she joined Alexander Resources. While it was fairly popular island amongst French travelers, she knew Albert and Alexander did not have strong connections there and its underground economy would allow them to quickly assemble fake papers. She didn’t know what they were going to do from there, but she knew that it would take money and the few hundred thousand she had was in banks could easily traced. Luckily, whenever she traveled for Alexander, he wanted her to carry cash, and this trip was no different. She had $50,000 worth of Dollars, Yen and Euros in her bag.
Slowly she looked over at Jonathan. As surreal as all of this was to her, it must have been exponentially more so for him. While she found it hard to believe that this was happening, for him, this was going to be nothing short of baptism by fire into the dark side of humanity. Where would she begin? How could she begin? How could she tell him the truth?
“Jonathan” she said..."I don’t really know where to start.” He looked at her blankly, still not at all sure what had just occurred. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Laura spoke with tears in her eyes. “I don’t know where to start, so I’m just going to start at the beginning.” He looked at her with a blank stare. “Everything you’ve ever known or been told about yourself is a lie.” “I don’t know how much Sebring knew, but of the most important part, I cannot imagine he had any knowledge.”
“You’ve heard me talk about Alexander Cooke, the man for whom I work. He’s the man who had me bring you to La Playa Arena, the man who Albert said was your father and the man you were supposed to meet this morning.” Jonathan nodded his head. “Well” she started, not sure where to go. “He is one of the richest men in the world and his company, Alexander Resources is the largest medical and biological science organization in the world. Their primary interests involve organ rejection drugs and genetic engineering.” Thinking that she had started down the wrong route, she decided to stop and start again. “Here” she said, “let me start again.” “Do you know what cloning is” she asked him. “Yes, I think so...” Jonathan responded. Breathing deeply she hesitated for a moment and finally began “ Everything Albert told us about your family was a lie.” “The truth is that Alexander is not your father. You did not have a mother named Brooke who died at childbirth. You did not have a mother and father like everyone else.” “The truth is that you were born of DNA taken from Alexander.” Jonathan looked at her, giving her no sign that he had a clue what she was talking about. She decided she had to be as straight as an arrow. “Jonathan, Alexander Cooke had a clone of himself made, and you are him.” Jonathan’s eyes narrowed and his brow tightened like a schoolboy trying to solve a math problem in his head as he tried to understand what she had just told him. Looking at him once again she said, “Sweetheart, you are Alexander’s clone” adding “that does not mean that you are not just as human as everyone else on the planet, it just means that rather than growing from two people, you grew from one.” Not wanting to give him a chance to ask a question that she could not answer, she continued “It is true that you were born twenty years ago. Everything else was a lie. Alexander’s DNA was implanted into an egg and a woman on La Playa Arena was paid to carry you to birth. When you were two years old you were sent to Aislado to be raised by Sebring.” He wanted to say something, but he had no words. “There’s more,” she said tentatively, knowing the most difficult part remained to be said. “He had a plan for you. And it was not a good one. It was downright despicable.” Struggling for words as the tears streamed down her face, she finally took one last deep breath and said what was possibly the most horrible thing she had ever said in her life “he cloned himself so that he could use your body.” “You never had an immune deficiency problem. That was a story to keep you from asking questions. You are actually in perfect health.” “You know those checkups you’ve had twice a year for as long as you can remember?” she hesitated, looking over at Jonathan. His eyes were closed, but he nodded his head. “Well the last one showed that you were in perfect shape. Literally, in almost perfect shape. I know, I read it” “You were created” she continued “so that Alexander Cooke could live forever in a perfect body. Your perfect body. You were not brought to La Playa Arena to receive treatment for some condition. You were going to be killed. Alexander planned to take your body. He was going to transplant his brain into your body.” Jonathan looked at her with a glance that was one part disbelief, another part revulsion and as the truth of what she had to say was becoming clear, another part fear. “How do you know all this?” Jonathan asked. “Are you part of this?” “NO!!! Of course not” she replied. Taking a moment, “No, I’m sorry,” she said. “I had no idea about any of this.” “What I told you on Aislado is what I was told, that you were going to meet Alex and receive a treatment for your immune system condition that would allow you to leave the island and go anywhere you wanted.” “It was purely by accident that I found out about any of this. I stumbled across the files late last night but didn’t put two and two together until this morning when I saw Alex’s birthmark, it’s exactly like yours.” Jonathan looked down and touched his birthmark. “He told me that his injuries were of little consequence and that the most important part of his body, his brain, was uninjured.” That’s when I realized what was really going on. From what I could tell the operation was not scheduled for another couple of years, but Alex’s accident necessitated a drastic advance of the timetable so that he would not die before the transplant could be completed.”
“Sweetheart” she said as she searched his eyes for some sign of confidence. “Two seconds after I recognized the plan I was heading towards the lab to get you. You’ve got to believe me.” After what seemed an eternity with Jonathan staring out at the horizon ahead, he turned at her with what for a moment was a steely cold glare. A moment later the glare gave way to compassion. “I do,” he said as he reached and grasped her hand as it still gripped the throttle like it was a rope hanging from a lifeboat. “I’m sorry I was so startled at the airfield. I had never seen anything like that. I know you’ve risked everything to rescue me. I don’t think I could believe you were part of this if I wanted to.” His eyes dropped to the row of red and green lights that line the bottom of the control panel which would indicate problems with various elements of the plane if they were flashing, which thankfully right now the were not. “Sebring” his voice trailed off. Laura spoke, “I have no idea how much of this Sebring knew or knows, but after meeting him and seeing the genuine love that he has for you I cannot imagine that he would have any knowing part in this plan.” He nodded his head in agreement as tears finally streamed down his cheek as the words of the last hour finally sank in. The range of emotions that he felt was unexplainable. He had in the last hour been introduced to everything dark that he had only read about in books from greed to conceit to deviousness to hate to rage to cruelty to deception to evil. It seemed so unreal, yet he knew it was true. The bottom-line was that he was nothing more than replacement parts, or more accurately, a replacement part. He didn’t know what he was supposed to feel in this situation, it was so unlike anything he’d ever experienced or even imagined. Did this mean that he was destined to be as cruel and evil as Alexander? Did this mean that his story was written before he had had a chance to live it? Questions and concerns were racing through his mind at a million miles a second, but he could not put any of them into words.
They flew in silence with Laura knowing there was no way possible for her to conceive of what was going through Jonathan’s head. He must have felt like he was watching as some three-dimensional storybook spin out its macabre tale right in front of him and he couldn’t close it if he wanted to. He was being forced to watch.
Finally, after what seemed like forever Jonathan looked over and broke the silence “What now?” She reached over and grabbed his hand. They were both trembling. “I’m not sure Sweetheart, I’m just not sure.” “I don’t have any idea how this is going to play out, but you’ve got to know that Alex has more resources at his disposal than God and he will stop at nothing to get you back. The first thing we are going to do is to go to Martinique. From there we’ll go to Switzerland. There is a safety deposit box we need to get to. We will need money and proof if either of us is going to survive. I know we’ll find the money in Zurich but I’m not so sure about the proof. That may be a little more difficult to come by.”
Her mind was now running at a million miles an hour. Whatever they were going to do they needed to get rid of this plane or at least make it less recognizable. She knew she needed to think fast. On Martinique they could both get the documents that would allow them to travel unfettered in Europe and change the identification numbers on the plane. With open borders throughout Europe the odds were against them needing any documentation at all, but in the off chance that they were stopped by police at some point she needed to make sure they had some kind of documentation. From the island they would fly to Zurich.
They would use Alexander’s money against him. He had had her set up a secure account about four years ago. He did not tell her what it was for but simply that it should be an unnamed account, which could only be accessed by a matching the retina scan and hand print of either of the two authorized persons. He had her deposit $15 million cash, a mix of Dollars, Euros, Pounds, and Swiss Francs plus an equal amount in German bearer bonds. At the last moment he gave her an envelope to add to the bag. She wasn’t sure what was in the letter, but Alexander had said, “it might eventually be very important” and that it was “a will of sorts.” The implication from the money was obvious, if something ever went awry and he needed cash quickly without any questions, he could find it there. When she set it up she could not imagine any kind of scenario where he might need money in such an unconventional way. It seemed odd, but most people had their idiosyncrasies and with rich people they often involved money. She never went back to the box and had never read the letter, but in light of the recent events it seemed reasonable that it might be of some value to them now. She knew they needed to get to that box before Alexander got to them.
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