Exposed (8 page)

     “Be strong, Cassie. Don’t give him the satisfaction,” Alyson called from across the room.

     Cassie dug her nails into the bed and tried to focus. She thought of puppies playing. She imagined herself in a field of flowers. Little by little, she grew stronger.

     I won’t let him break me
,
she thought.

     “You can fight me now. Eventually I’m going to get what I want. The longer my research takes, the longer I keep you here.”

     Cassie was frustrated. She wanted to leave. More than anything, she wanted to leave. She was stubborn though, and refused to assist the man who was torturing her. Cassie stayed strong.

     “I’ll be back. Don’t go anywhere,” Howard chuckled as he left the room, samples in his hands.

     “Don’t worry, Cassie. We’ll get out of here,” Alyson said, trying to stay positive.

Chapter Twelve

     The next morning, a little past 8:30am, Leonard entered the lab.

     “You’re late. I hope you have a good reason.”

     “Lighten up, Howard. I’m your partner. I don’t work for you.”

     “You’re not working at all. Time is wasting. We have a lot to do.”

     “It will all be done. Relax.”

     “If I relax, another scientist will be making my discovery.”

     “It’s already someone else’s discovery. Remember? It’s the reason we have the girls here now.”

     “How could I forget? Don’t remind me. Charles always beat me at everything. He got Samantha. He figured out the cloning process. He won’t win, though. His clones aren’t perfect. They still have flaws. I will finish what he started and my clones will be perfect. They will not have any medical conditions. They will be the super human.”

     “You’ve gone mad, Howard.”

     “Have I? Have I, Leonard? Why? Because I strive to be the best at what I do? Maybe it’s just you that’s gotten complacent? You’re content to settle for mediocrity. Well, I won’t. I refuse. I will have the accolades that I so richly deserve. I will no longer live in Charles’ shadow.”

     “You’ve seriously gone off the deep end. I’m worried about you. As a friend. As a colleague. You can’t maintain this pace. Nobody could.”

     “Oh, but I can. And I will. I will have everything. The only thing missing...is Samantha. She should have been with me. She always should have been with me. How could she choose Charles? How could she?”

     Howard sat down, head in his hands, and sobbed.

     “When was the last time you slept? You’re having a breakdown. Your body and mind need rest.”

     “I’ll rest when this is all over.”

     Howard straightened his hair, cleared his throat, and regained his composure.

     “While they’re still asleep, hand me that ether mask. I want to implant the locator chips without them knowing. I can’t have them waking up in the middle of the procedure. They must never find out I can track their every move.”

     Leonard passed Howard the mask, then checked Cassie’s breathing. She was doing much better, despite the stress her body was under. Leonard carefully removed the breathing tubes, watching for any changes in her respiration. Her breaths were shallow, but steady.

     After Howard anesthetized Alyson, he placed the ether mask over Cassie’s face. He waited a bit, removed it and pulled two locator chips out of his lab coat pocket, handing one to Leonard.

     “Turn her over and insert it in the back of her neck. She won’t see the scar under her hair. I’ll insert this one in Alyson’s neck.”

     Leonard did as he was told. He gently turned Cassie on her side and made a small incision in the nape of her neck. Then, he carefully inserted the chip and stitched her up.

     Howard wasn’t so gentle, but he was neat. After stitching up the incision, he took cell scrapings from their fingertips. He matched each of their fingers, one-by-one, and labelled the slides.

     “Keep an eye on them, Leonard. I’m going to analyze the specimens. I’ll return shortly.”

     Leonard wanted to say, “Go home. Get some sleep,” but he didn’t. He kept his mouth shut and did what he was told. Given Howard’s current irrational state, he didn’t want to provoke him.

     Howard was always very passionate about his work, but never went to such extremes in the past. Leonard was truly worried about him. Howard was more than just a colleague, he was also his closest friend. They had worked together many times and never had a difference of opinion. Until now. Now, he felt uncomfortable in Howard’s presence.

     Leonard sat in the chair beside Cassie’s bed. Watching the girls sleep helped ease his conscience. They seemed so peaceful.

     He stayed quiet so as not to disturb their slumber. He wanted them to rest, even if it was a drug-induced sleep. Howard was putting their bodies through extreme stress. They endured daily blood tests, cell scrapings from various body parts, and hair analysis. They had so many scabs, they looked like human pincushions.

     Leonard considered releasing them, but he was a scientist at heart and knew he would never get another opportunity to study a human clone. As much as he hated restraining the girls, he still put science first. A groggy Cassie started waking up.

     “What’s going on?” Cassie squeaked, her voice hoarse and weak.

     “Try not to talk. Your throat is still raw from the tubes,” Leonard said, genuinely concerned.

     “Why do you even care?” Cassie said, barely above a whisper.

     “I know it doesn’t seem it, but I do care. I care about yo
u
an
d
Alyson. I don’t want to hurt either one of you. It’s really nothing personal. It’s all in the name of science.”

     “We’re not science specimens for you and your lunatic partner to study!”

     “Calm down, Cassie. You’ll hurt yourself. Rest your voice. Your throat needs a day or two to heal. You shouldn’t even be speaking.”

     “I bet you would love that. I stay quiet and you don’t have to hear me complain. Don’t you even feel the least bit guilty about keeping us here?” Cassie asked, staring straight into Leonard’s eyes.

     Leonard abruptly turned from her, his pen slipping from his fingers. He couldn’t face her accusing eyes. As he bent down to retrieve it, he could hear Alyson starting to wake up.

     Grea
t
, he thought
.
Now I have to deal with two sets of accusing eyes.

     Alyson looked over to see Cassie no longer hooked up to any machines.

     “Cassie, are you..are you okay?”

     “I’m so tired,” Cassie said, taking a deep breath. “And sore. My whole body aches.”

     “Mine, too. I don’t know why I feel so sore. My skin feels like one big exposed nerve ending.”

     Alyson looked over at Leonard who was trying to avoid being seen.

     “What have you done to us? Why do we feel this way? Don’t ignore me.”

     Leonard pretended not to hear Alyson speaking. He kept his back to them, hoping they would stop talking. They didn’t. Alyson continued questioning him.

     “I know you can hear me. Answer me.”

     “Why didn’t I get those earplugs when Howard suggested it?” Leonard mumbled under his breath. “Don’t turn around. Just keep ignoring them. Eventually they’ll have to stop,” Leonard whispered to himself.

     “We’re not going to stop talking so you might as well turn around and face us,” Alyson said.

     Leonard continued to ignore them until his hands started shaking and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, stinging his eyes. He wasn’t strong like Howard. He wasn’t heartless. Alyson’s voice resonated in his head. Her words played over and over like a scratched record. 

     Leonard kept hoping Howard would walk through the door and silence their pleas, but he didn’t. Leonard was forced to face his accusers -- alone. Finally, he could no longer avoid looking at them. Slowly, he turned, his eyes still aimed at the floor, fixated on the cracked tile just beneath his feet. Little by little, his eyes raised to meet theirs. His palms dripped with sweat. The vein in his forehead visibly throbbing.

     “I’m sorry, girls. Truly I am. I wish I could release you, but the research we are doing is critical. The information we gather could one day save millions of lives. We could eradicate disease. Do you understand the implications of what we might find?”

     “I understand that you’re holding us here against our will. I also understand that kidnapping is a federal crime. Do you understand what that means?” Alyson said defiantly.

     “Sometimes the few must be sacrificed for the greater good. Please try to understand. It’s nothing personal. If we asked you to stay so we could run our tests, would you?”

     “You never even gave us the chance to decide. I understand about research. I’m supposed to be interning for a research facility in Geneva right after graduation.”

     “Then you must understand what I’m talking about. The discoveries we make now can have huge implications for generations to come.”

     “What about this generation? What about us? Cassie and me? You talk about future generations, but we don’t even know what day it is, or if it’s morning or night. How can you expect us to understand why you’re keeping us here? How dare you!”

     “Calm down,” Cassie said in a soft voice, trying to defuse a possible volatile situation. 

     Too worked up to think clearly, she continued her rant.

     “Alyson, please. You need to calm down” Cassie said.

     Hearing the fear in Cassie’s voice, she stopped, looked at her fellow prisoner and realized what she was doing. Alyson took a deep breath and reigned in her emotions. Her voice softened when she spoke again.

     “Leonard,” she said very calmly. “I’m sure it wasn’t your idea to keep us here, but we’re in a lot of pain. We haven’t moved more than our hands and feet in a very long time. Can’t you do something?” Alyson asked, trying to appeal to Leonard’s humanity.

     Leonard walked over to Alyson’s bedside. He looked at her laying there -- helpless, her legs covered in bed sores. Her once lustrous locks a matted mess which barely covered the scabs on her scalp.

     “Please, Leonard. Please help us. I know you...I know you want to. He’s not here now. Please do something. We can’t keep...” Alyson’s voice trailed off.

     She swallowed hard and took a deep breath.

     “We can’t survive like this. I’m begging you. Please. Please,” Alyson said.

     “I want to, but I can’t take the restraints off. You’ll try to escape and Howard would have my head.”

     “There has to be something, something you can do to help us. To take away the pain. Please, Leonard. My body feels like it’s being stuck with a thousand needles. Please! Help us get rid of the pain!”

     “I should wait for Howard to return. He’ll know what to do. He’ll know how to handle the situation.”

     “What do you mean ‘handle the situation’?” Cassie said. “We’re not a situation to be handled. We need help. Your help, Leonard. Mr. Parker doesn’t care anything about us. He doesn’t even think we’re human. He just looks at us as test subjects. He doesn’t care if we’re in agony. I know you’re different, Leonard. I know you care. You don’t want to see us suffering, do you?” Cassie said, trying to reason with a very confused and conflicted scientist.

     Leonard looked deep into Cassie’s eyes. He could see her pain. He felt her fear. There was no denying he was the cause of both.

     “I’ll unstrap one leg at a time so you can move it around a little.”

     He loosened the restraint on Cassie’s right ankle so she could stretch her leg. After not moving for so long, Cassie struggled to move it on her own. Using all the energy she could muster, her leg spasmed, but didn’t move. She couldn’t lift it at all. She grunted and groaned, but nothing happened.

     Leonard’s stomach tightened. He tasted the vomit in the back of his throat and swallowed it down. After steadying his trembling hands, he lifted her leg, bent it at the knee and stretched it back and forth a few times. While her leg was free, he applied ointment to the bedsores. When the circulation returned to her right leg, he repeated the same on her left leg.

     Cassie smiled weakly and Leonard restrained her legs again. She could see he did so reluctantly. He wasn’t evil, but he was terrified of his partner. After checking the restraints were secure, he did the same for Alyson. They were still in immense pain, but felt slightly better after having their legs moved around. Leonard sat back down and sighed.

     “Thank you,” the girls said in unison.

     They hated what Leonard was doing to them, but they appreciated the gesture. Realizing they were going to be there for a while, they didn’t want to upset him. At least not too much. After all, he was their only hope of survival. Nobody else even knew they were there.

     They couldn’t count on Mr. Parker freeing them or treating them with any compassion. He didn’t care how much pain was inflicted on them. All he cared about was science and his research. They were just a means to an end for him -- and they knew it.

     They needed Leonard as an ally. All they had to do was turn Leonard against Mr. Parker. That shouldn’t be too hard. Mr. Parker was very demanding and condescending to him. Eventually, he would reach a breaking point and stand up for himself, but they weren’t sure how much more they could endure until that happened. Alyson tried speeding things along.

     “Aren’t you getting tired of taking orders from Mr. Parker?” Alyson asked.

     “I don’t take orders from him. We’re equal partners,” Leonard said defensively, knowing he was lying to himself as well as Alyson.

     “You don’t really believe that, do you? I hear how he speaks to you. He bosses you around telling you to do this or that. Why do you take it?”

     “He’s a brilliant scientist. I’ve worked with him for years. He’s just under an incredible amount of stress right now. I’m certain he doesn’t intend to treat me as a lackey.”