Gemini Rising (Mischievous Malamute Mystery Series, Book 1) (15 page)

“My father realized Martin had made only one visit to the hospital after Alison died. During that visit, he injected each of you with a chip that contained one-half of the formulas. That way, someone—that someone being me—would have to get to each of you in order to get the whole enchilada.” He grinned as he dug into his pocket. “In fact, here’s the one I beat out of Victoria.” He held up something that looked to be no bigger than a rubber pencil eraser, tossed it the air and caught it easily before putting it back into his right trouser pocket.

I thought about Victoria’s face the night I had found her in my dumpster, and though I was completely shocked and repulsed by his revelation, it was time to turn the tables on this little production before he did the same to me.

“It took your father thirty years to figure
that
out?” I threw my head back and laughed heartily, throwing in an obnoxious snort for good measure.

As I had anticipated, the temperature of the room shifted. Clark’s eyes went cold. Wild. His smile morphed into a contemptuous sneer. Suddenly, several things seemed to happen all at once. Clark pulled a vicious-looking knife from his waistband and lunged in my direction. I charged at Clark’s weak side, arms up protectively, ready to defend. What can I say, never bring a girl to a knife fight.

Nicoh charged around the corner and barreled into Clark’s midsection, knocking both him and the knife to the ground. Leah scrambled from her prone position, a rock from the planter in hand, and conked the sweet spot on Clark’s melon.

While I was pretty sure Nicoh had successfully knocked Clark out with his maneuver, this was a situation where it was definitely better to be safe than sorry, so we found an extension cord and hog-tied him to one of the concrete posts.

Leah might have also kicked him a couple of extra times to make sure he was out. He was. Sweaty and exhausted, both mentally and physically, we sat on the floor and hugged Nicoh, who panted with delight.

Neither of us spoke for a long moment until Leah broke the silence, “I’m not sure where Nicoh learned those moves, but it certainly wasn’t from the Brazilian Butt Lift workout videos you’ve been watching.”

We both laughed shakily, just as the cavalry burst in. Ramirez and his guys led the pack, followed closely by Abe and Elijah. Worried expressions quickly turned to surprise as they surveyed the scene. Don’t quote me, but I was pretty sure I heard a “bad ass” from one of Ramirez’s team members.

True to form, Leah and I looked at one another before turning to the lot of them. “What took you so long?” we both asked, drawing chuckles from the team.

Only Ramirez failed to crack a smile. Instead, he stepped forward until the toes of his boots were touching mine—I was wearing Chuck Taylor’s, but you get the picture—and he was looking squarely into my eyes.

“What took you so long?” he grumbled after a long moment.

I gave Leah a sideways glance, and she did the same. Ramirez’s stern expression broke as he erupted into laughter. The whole room followed suit.

“You saw that?” I chirped as quietly as I could. More laughter filled the room as Ramirez nodded.

“And heard it, too. We had guys on the roof of that building.” He pointed to the adjacent office building. “Guys on the roof of this building. Mics in the ceiling of the floor below—”

“I get it. I get it. You saw. You heard,” I interjected.

“And we acted,” Leah clarified.

“Risky maneuver,” Ramirez countered.

“But effective.” She was still pumped up and ready to take on anyone who dared give her guff.

Ironically, Clark chose that moment to regain consciousness. Before he had a chance to struggle, however, Leah marched over and kicked him solidly in the gut.

“I happen to like my hair, you ass.”

Chapter Thirty-One

A couple of days later, Ramirez, Abe, Elijah, Leah, Nicoh and I were sitting at Starbucks. Would you have expected us to be somewhere else? Even Anna had driven over from L.A. and after meeting her in person, both Leah and I proclaimed her as our new BFF. The guys gave us the requisite eye rolls in response. All was good in the world.

After hog-tying Clark, the FBI had swooped in, taken over and whisked him away to parts unknown. Ramirez muttered something about jurisdiction, but I had a feeling it was a lot more than that.

Clark’s father, Theodore, had been located in Virginia Beach and taken into custody, though the FBI hadn’t been particularly forthcoming about what would become of either of them. One thing was for sure, both would have a lot of ‘splaining to do. I hoped, at a minimum, they’d be cooling their jets for a long, long time, in a very secure location.

All of us had gone rounds with the FBI, for all the good it did. They were still skeptical about the Gemini project, as well as the whole GenTech/Sterling Joy angle, though my gut tells me they knew more than they let on.

In the meantime, I filled both Cheryl Earley and Sir Harry in, as promised. Abe, Elijah and Anna also let Switzer know what had happened to Tanner Dolby. He hadn’t hired a bad guy after all. Dolby just had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, that and being born into a bad gene pool. Anyway, they never did find Mrs. Winestone’s car.

As for the children of the Gemini project—where they ended up was anyone’s guess. Without the benefit of the Baumgardner’s documentation, it could take months, if not years, to track them all down. Besides, there were other ramifications associated with springing that jack-in-the-box.

I still didn’t have answers to all of my own questions, either. For now, I was completely content sipping an icy latte with friends and, of course, celebrating Nicoh’s new hero status. He had, after all, saved our bacon and was currently reaping the rewards, as scratches were plentiful and scones were in full supply. A favor, though? Let’s keep that bacon comment to ourselves. I wouldn’t want him assuming he could break into full-howl mode every time he wanted a few dozen pieces—cooked extra crispy—added to his nightly food bowl. I was cringing at the thought when Leah’s voice brought me back to the present.

“So, are you really a clone? It would certainly explain a lot,” she teased.

I nodded. “It isn’t conclusive yet, but it’s looking like Martin and Alison combined their knowledge and resources for the benefit of their own side project, for a lack of better words. The tests I had run yesterday will positively confirm one way or the other. I need to sit tight and wait for a few weeks until the results come back.”

“If they come back positive, does that mean Martin wasn’t your real father, after all?” Elijah asked. “Rather, he was the father of the invention, so to speak?”

“Not necessarily. While the Gemini project isolated cells solely from the mother, X recently told Daniels that Martin and Alison had developed a way to introduce a few of the father’s cells during the chemical alteration phase. If this was indeed the case, the resulting offspring would still retain all the physical characteristics of the mother but could also take on other characteristics from the father.”

“So the children would still physically look exactly like the mother, but could take on say…the father’s knack for science or math?” Abe asked.

“Yeah, something like that,” I laughed.

“Is that how Theodore Winslow created Tanner Dolby and Winslow Clark?” Anna questioned.

“X said Winslow morphed many of Martin’s formulas to create his own special hybrid offspring.  He basically wanted to replicate himself,” I replied seriously. “All he needed was a surrogate.”

“Wow, what an ego.” Abe shook his head. “But what happened to the surrogate?”

“I doubt we will ever know,” I replied.

“You think we can trust X’s word?” Elijah asked. “And who is he or she, anyway?”

It was Leah who responded, “We don’t know for sure but so far, X has been right on the mark.”

Everyone groaned.

###

Several caffeinated beverages and much reminiscing later…

Ramirez needed to leave to start his shift, so I offered to walk him to his car. He had been noticeably quiet all afternoon, despite the fact I had apologized repeatedly for my previous bad behavior. I wondered if he would ever forgive me and was about to ask him as much when he surprised me by bending over and placing a gentle kiss on my cheek. I stuttered, struggling to find the appropriate words and when I finally mustered the nerve to look up, found him chuckling softly.

“Looks like I finally figured out a way to get the last word in, Ajax.”

He winked as he got into his cruiser and drove off. After a moment, the left-hand side of my mouth quirked into a small smile.

“Game on, Detective. Game on.”

###

Everyone at the table had watched in amused silence as the scene between AJ and Ramirez played out.

While AJ stood in the parking lot, watching Ramirez drive away, Anna leaned over to Abe and Elijah, raised her finger to her lips and whispered, “I think Ramirez has a crush on AJ.”

At their flabbergasted expressions, she and Leah turned to one another and pretended to clink their Starbucks cups in a mock toast before bursting into uncontrollable giggles. AJ joined them, and soon the entire table bubbled with laughter.

All was good in the world, indeed.

Epilogue

Leah went to my appointment with me. Even though I was only having a standard MRI procedure done, I was still scared to death and needed my best friend there to hold my hand. She did so as long as she was permitted and even then, talked the technician into letting her stay in the observation room for the duration. Despite having to stay in one place longer than I had at any other time in my life, I made it through with flying colors.

The radiologist confirmed I had a chip, no bigger than a pencil eraser, embedded in the soft tissue directly behind my left ear. Though I strongly suspect she mistook it for an electronic identification marker, she made no comment, and I offered nothing in return. I had received the answer I had gone there looking for.

Leah continued to baby me as we left the office, insisting I stay put while she got the car from the parking garage and pulled around to get me. After seeing her use her powers of persuasion on the technician, I quickly conceded, electing to sit on a small concrete bench in front of the medical complex.

While I waited, I slipped the chip from my pocket and let it sit in the center of my palm. Victoria died trying to keep me safe, because of it. If and when I had its partner removed, decisions would need to be made. I closed my hand. For now, I would keep it—keep them—safe.

When I glanced up, a figure stood directly across the street, facing me. Smiling. From a distance, the features looked vaguely familiar and once I squinted, giving them detail, there was a hint of recognition.

Leah pulled to the curb, distracting me. I smiled warmly at my friend, and as I approached the car, a burst of wind blew loose strands of hair into my face. In the moment it took to brush them away, the figure was gone, leaving nothing but an imprint on my mind. I joined Leah in the car, and soon after I rested my head against the seat, found myself dozing.

During my slumber, the figure reappeared. Still smiling, he stepped across the street until he stood directly before me. As we faced one another, he extended his hand, palm upward so that I might grasp it with my own.

“Hello, Arianna. It’s nice to finally meet you,” he said as I took his hand, his smile broadening.

“Hello, Martin.”

~ The End ~

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About Harley

Harley Christensen lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her significant other and their mischievous motley crew of rescue dogs (aka the “kids”).

When not at her laptop, Christensen is an avid hockey fan and lover of all things margarita. It’s also rumored she’s never met a green chile or jalapeño she didn’t like, regardless of whether it liked her back.

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