Deciding to investigate, he tiptoed across the living room, into the adjoining hallway, and stopped. In all the years he had served the Eickhers, he had never heard Señora Doris raise her voice to anyone, let alone to the boss. The fact that she was now tearing into the man, gave Francisco a huge sense of satisfaction. He backed around the corner and listened unabashed, as her wonderfully perfect English exploded through the room. If only he could speak like that!
“So, you’ve locked Alesha in a room like a common prisoner. How could you! Where’s the key? Good. Put it on the table and step away.” Francisco heard nothing for a few minutes so he moved closer and peeked around the corner. Doris continued speaking. “You have a lot of nerve, Helmut Eickher. You’re like a runaway locomotive thundering down the wrong track. Your research is being done for the wrong reasons and your ideals have taken a wrong turn. To top it off, your sex life is with the wrong woman. You’ve insulted me. You’ve humiliated me. You have been—” she looked down at Jamie, “Cover your ears, Child.” She cast a searing look at Eickher. “You’ve been screwing Vera Johnstone for years. We are finished, Helmut! Now turn around and walk out that door. Yes, that’s right, down the hall, and keep your hands on top of your head where they won’t get into trouble!”
Francisco backed out of sight, and then stuck his head around the corner for a look. A strange trio crossed the living room, lead by Eickher. Doris and the boy followed.
Why was Señor Eickher—a man who gave orders, who never took them—why was he doing as he was told?
Then, Francisco saw the gun. It was pointed at the Señor’s back. Worse, the Señora’s finger was on the trigger! What to do? Francisco was paid to protect the Eickhers, but not from each other.
He watched dumbfounded. Doris ordered, “Open the door.” Reluctantly, Eickher opened the patio door. Wind, rain, and the roar of the ocean blasted into the room. Doris yelled above the din. “It’s time for you to drop out, so to speak, Helmut, before you do any more harm in this world.”
Eickher looked behind him into the stormy void, then back at Doris. “Be reasonable, Doris,” he shouted, “I am a man, after all.”
“Yes, I’m sure Vera Johnstone will vouch for you in that regard. But it’s not just your body that’s gone off the rails, Helmut. The brain that operates your body is faulty and corrupt. I used to believe in you and your plan for a better world. But it’s no longer betterment you are trying to achieve. It’s control. You dream of having the universe at your fingertips. And I won’t be a part of that. Nor will l allow you to continue.”
Eickher stepped toward her, his jaw snapping. “Doris think!” he implored, spittle flying with his words. “Everything’s in place. We have twenty-five super-brains strategically positioned around the world. We have another twenty integrated into government. Twenty-two more are at our facility, devoted to research and the continuance of our project.” He rubbed his bony hands together and his beady eyes gleamed. “Our cellular research is bringing in a fortune and our shares on the NASDAQ are going steadily up. Our patent will bring in billions of dollars! Nothing can stop us now. The world is ours!”
Doris smiled sadly. “Oh, Helmut, you have two eyes, but you don’t see what’s in front of them. You stole sixty-seven infants from their families and left behind tears and heartbreak. You’ve spent thirty-two years worrying about being caught by the FBI for that ongoing crime. Only you and God know what other horrific crimes you’ve committed over the years. And, as far as our young adults are concerned, you might remember that I was the one who worked with those gifted children every day. I knew which ones would promote goodness in the world and which ones would not. And you’ll remember that I was the one who controlled their test results.”
A look of realization changed Eickher’s expression. His eyes turned ice cold, his jaw snapped wordlessly, and his hand opened and closed as rage set in.
Doris continued, “Yes, Helmut. The lead group—those you had selected for strategic positions--showed dangerous inclinations. I adjusted their test results accordingly. I wanted to ensure they’d remain at the facility where I could watch over them. So you see, Helmut, the project’s finished. No more controlled births. And your big dream—for Alesha to have a child,
the boy child
you could sculpt into ultimate perfection? That will never happen. She would never have let you plant your twisted seed in her body, and I would have made certain of it. You’ve done enough damage. Now, let’s see if you can depart this world like the man you believe you are. Step back!” Doris waved the revolver. “And on your way down, you can recall all those lustful nights with Vera Johnstone.”
Eickher backed out onto the balcony, the wind whipping his clothes. When he felt the rail against his back, he looked below to the crashing waves, then back at Doris.
Suddenly, Maria’s deep throaty voice boomed across the other room.
“Put the gun down!”
Turning her head in surprise, Doris saw the large woman bearing down upon her. Out of self-preservation she swung the gun in the woman’s direction. Maria’s left hand locked around Doris’s wrist.
Another voice yelled, “Take your hands off her!”
Helmut, Doris, and Maria froze. Shock registered on all three faces. Francisco angled his head around the corner for a look. Standing not ten feet from him were two Alesha’s! He shook his head trying to clear the illusion. He had always known vodka could destroy a man. This was the proof. He closed his eyes, and then opened them slowly, praying his double vision would disappear. But no! There were two. Both had blonde hair tied into a knot at the napes of their long, pale necks. Hail Mary, one of them was enough to make any man weep, such was their beauty. But two!
He longed to touch them, to be certain they were real, to reassure himself that it wasn’t the vodka eating into his brain.
Eickher was the first to recover. He dove back inside and grabbed Jamie by the arm. “Come here, boy.” Then, he pointed a shaky finger at Alesha and Amy, and shouted to Francisco, “Don’t stand there man, grab them. Lock them up!”
Francisco took a faltering step in their direction. He had never been permitted near Alesha at the facility. She was
the
Golden One,
the privileged one. Everyone called her
The Angel of Light.
And—she was Doris’s child.
As he stepped hesitantly toward the two women, they warned him away. The closest one held up her hand. There was a hypodermic needle between her fingers. Francisco’s eyes bugged. He hated needles.
“Can you imagine what’s in this syringe, Helmut?” She tipped it toward him. “Humalog.” She put the thin needle tip against her sister’s carotid artery. “Injected directly into the carotid artery means coma and death. Without Alesha there will be no ultimate conclusion to your project. And you can’t risk losing that, can you? We’re leaving, Helmut. With Jamie. Don’t try to stop us, not if you want Alesha, to live.”
Eickher’s eyes darted between the two women. He pointed to the second woman and ordered Maria, “Shoot her.”
Maria looked down at the gun, her fear of Eickher obvious. Shakily, she raised the barrel in the direction of the twins.
Doris gasped and pushed her small body in front of the weapon. “No!” she cried, “you are not going to shoot our child, Helmut. And who knows which one she is.”
The twins moved slowly toward Jamie, the far one speaking first. “The only hope you have to complete your project, Helmut, is to let the three of us leave.”
“Enough!” Eickher’s black eyes burned like hot coals against his colorless skin. “How dare you threaten my project. I don’t need Alesha’s acquiescence for completion, just her body,” he spat, jaw snapping. “No one can stop me!”
He grabbed the gun from Maria and lowered the barrel until it was aimed directly at Jamie. There was an intake of breath around the room. Alarm showed on the twins’ faces. “I won’t allow my project to be perverted by anyone. Decades of work and sacrifice are at stake.” He pulled Jamie in front of him and looked from one woman to the other, his beady eyes settling on the twin holding the needle. “But I do need Alesha. So, I think we can put an end to all of this silliness and determine which one she is.” He put one hand on Jamie’s shoulders and shoved him in front of the two women. Holding the gun at the child’s back, he said, “They say a child always knows his mother.” He gave Jamie a nudge with the barrel of the gun. “So, boy. Which one’s
your mother
?”
Amy held her breath, willing her emotions to stay in check, even though she was on the verge of screaming. She wanted to dive for Jamie and push him to safety, but Eickher’s finger was on the trigger. She couldn’t risk a shot going off and hitting her son. She hadn’t been this close to him in over a week. She wanted to scoop him into her arms and hold him. She wanted to hug him and to feel his small body against her breast. She wanted him away from Eickher and out of danger. But she had to wait for the right moment.
Jamie’s large gray eyes took in each detail of the women’s faces. Precious seconds ticked by as he touched their hands and looked carefully at each of their faces. Finally, he stepped between them, and with his back to Eickher, closed his eyes and turned to each woman in turn. He inhaled. Then he turned back to the scientist and looked up at him defiantly. “I don’t know.”
Eickher’s voice became sugary. “Of course you do, Boy. Take your time. Look again. All you have to do is point to your mom, and then you can go home, like you wanted,” he crooned. “So, which one is she?”
Amy watched Jamie, her heart in her throat, her eyes darting to the gun. She could see from his expression that he knew, but he wasn’t going to give her up to Eickher. He was so brave.
Eickher cocked the revolver. “Enough time wasted. There’s one final way to find out.” He put the barrel of the gun to Jamie’s temple.
Gramps, who’d wheeled his chair silently into the next room, whipped the wheelchair around the corner, and yelled, “Freeze, you bastard!”
Amy and Alesha dove for Jamie, knocking him away from the gun. At the same second, Doris threw herself at her husband, sending both of them sprawling across the floor. Amy scooped Jamie into her arms and ran for the stairs, followed by Alesha.
Francisco dove for the gun, but missed. George Johnstone walked into the room and seeing the mayhem, yelled, “What the hell—”
There was a struggle for the weapon. A shot rang out and Johnstone fell to the floor. Everyone froze.
In the sudden silence, Eickher heard the two women racing up the stairs. With the .38 in hand, he stood and bolted after them.
As he ran for the staircase, he passed in front of the wheelchair. Gramps was ready. The second Eickher came into range, Gramps whipped out the tire iron and sent him sprawling.
Out of the corner of her eye, Amy saw Eickher go down, but he still had the gun and he could shoot again. At the next landing was an emergency exit. She remembered it opened onto a balcony. Was it a dead end? No, she recalled a narrow staircase leading down to a trail. Amy rushed up the stairs toward the door.
Carrying Jamie slowed her, but she didn’t dare put him down. When they got to the landing, Alesha reached around her, and threw open the door. Amy rushed out, into the driving rain, pulling her jacket around her son. Alesha slammed the door behind them.
Amy pointed down the steps. “Eickher will be right behind us and he’s still got the gun. There’s a trail down there. If we take it, we’ll be out of sight. Hurry!”
Panting, they ran down the concrete steps and dashed into wet overburden. Amy reached into her coat pocket for the penlight she had used earlier on the beach. She turned it on to see where she was going. Alesha pushed her on. “Don’t stop.”
A few minutes later, her breathing ragged, Amy ducked under a cedar tree and let Jamie slide off her hip. Alesha dug in her bag for his jacket. She knelt down. “Here. Put this on,” she told the boy, “quick, before you get soaked.”
He looked at her, his soft gray eyes inspecting her. “Thanks, Auntie.”
Amy knelt beside him and pulled the hood over his head. To Alesha she said, “He has no trouble figuring out which of us is his mom and which is his aunt, even in the dark.” She pulled Jamie close and hugged him tightly. “I missed you so much, Sweetheart.” She whispered, “And I love you more than ever.”
Two arms found their way around her neck. He kissed her cheek. “Love you, Mommy. I knew you’d come.”
Worried, Alesha stood up and looked behind them. “No sign of Helmut yet, but it’ll only take him a couple of minutes to figure out what we did. When he sees the trail, he’ll probably stop for a jacket and a light. He’ll be behind us in no time.”
Amy looked in the other direction. The trail was a wide, needle covered passage through cedars and firs. “If I remember right, this is the old trail to The Caves.”
Alesha nodded. “I think you’re right. Francisco mentioned it to me the other day when they let me out for air.”
Amy said thoughtfully, “The bad news is, I don’t know of a way to double back up to the parking area. All we can do for now is keep going and hope Eickher gives up on us.”
About ten minutes later, the trail reached the edge of the cliff. Amy shone the penlight down. Fifty feet straight down, an angry ocean lashed the rocks. The forest which had sheltered them from the wind and rain, was behind them. The roar of the ocean and the driving rain made Amy step back, pushing Jamie behind her. She swept the light along the ridge to have a look at the terrain. The landscape was small brush and moss covered rock. She turned to Alesha. “The trail gets quite treacherous from here. With all the rain, it’s going to be pretty slippery. It would be crazy to go on, especially in the dark.”
Alesha glanced back. “Still no sign of Helmut,” she said. “We passed a small clearing back there. Why don’t we see if we can get out of sight and out of the rain for a while.”
They huddled together behind a huge rotting cedar stump. Alesha said, “At least we won’t be seen from the trail.” Cedar boughs from surrounding trees protected them, minimally. She retrieved the small blanket from her bag.