Red Queen (20 page)

“Yesterday, Russell showed me the scanner. Do the Lapras use a similar device to identify people with witch genes?”

“They're the ones who invented the scanner.”

“I don't understand. Russell works for their company.”

My father hesitated. “What I'm going to tell you next is very secret. It's important you tell no one. Not James or Alexis or any of their counterparts in the real world.”

“I understand.”

“Russell's a double agent. The Lapras believe he's spying on us, when in reality he works very closely with the Council.”

“You're absolutely sure he's not a triple agent? Is it possible he really works for the Lapras?” I couldn't help but recall how he had tried to seduce me, when he knew I was with Jimmy. At the same time, I had vague memories of flirting with him in witch world. It was frustrating not being able to remember the details of our relationship. For all I knew, he was a lover.

“When you meet Cleo, you'll realize there's no way he would be able to fool her,” my father said. “She has total confidence in Russell.”

“Does he work with the scanner company to keep tabs on them?”

“Yes. We have it now but the Lapras had it first and it gave them a tremendous advantage over us. They could get to people with extra genes before we could. And once the Lapras activated someone, they would invariably tell them their way of life was the only way.”

“What is the Lapras' way of life?” I asked.

“They see themselves as superior beings, the natural rulers of mankind. Their people inevitably seek out positions of power—in the government, the military, industry. There's hardly a senator or congressman in DC who doesn't have their support, or who's not one themselves.”

“Dad, I'm sorry, you're beginning to lose me.”

“You don't believe in power-hungry witches?”

“I would expect that. The wrong people always seem to make the most money and get elected to the highest offices. I'm not naive, I know mankind is selfish. It's just hard to imagine a huge conspiracy that's secretly working to take over the world.”

My father gestured to the bright lights of the Strip. “You had a chance to stroll around witch world before coming here. What did you think of our alternate dimension?”

“Frankly, what I saw gave me the creeps.”

“Why?”

“The people seemed afraid of their own shadows. They were all worried if I was connected or not.”

“Did they know what you were connected to?”

“I don't know, I'm not sure.”

My father nodded. “Let's take a lesson from history. In Italy, in the years following World War Two, after Mussolini was killed, the criminals gathered together and formed what became known as the Mafia. It existed before the war, of course,
but from the mid-forties on, it grew so swiftly it became more powerful than the official government. Think about that for a moment. Italy had a constitution, it was a democratic nation. It had elected officials and laws everyone had voted on. Yet the average man had no faith in these laws. The police and officials who were supposed to enforce them were corrupt. If a person wanted justice, he had to go to the Mafia. But in those days, they didn't even say the word Mafia aloud. They feared to, it was so powerful. But if they needed help in business, or if someone in their family had been harmed, they ran to the Mafia and the Mafia delivered.”

“Dad. I've seen
The Godfather
.”

“That dealt with the American Mafia, which was only a shadow of its predecessor across the sea. What you felt tonight while walking around witch world was how it felt to live in Italy after the war. Tell me, while you were out tonight, were you accosted?”

“How do you know that?”

“I sensed it. What happened?”

“Three guys tried to mug me. They might have tried to rape me, had I given them the chance.”

“What did you do?”

“I fought them off.”

“Did that surprise you? That you were able to fight them off?”

“Sure.”

“I bet it surprised them as well. Before these guys attacked, did they first try to find out if you were connected?”

“Yes.”

“What did you tell them?”

“I didn't know what to say. It happened so fast. But after I beat them to a pulp, I went from being called pretty sister to being addressed as Mother.”

“ ‘Mother' refers to a woman who's connected. They would have called me ‘Father.' They're Lapra expressions but the public can't tell us apart.”

“But they know you exist?” I asked.

“The general population has become sensitive to people with power, and they've learned to fear them. That's the work of the Lapras. In this world, on the surface, our nation has the same constitution as the U.S. government. The identical number of senators and congressmen and Supreme Court justices. Yet something similar to the Mafia has taken over and the average person knows it's more powerful than the government. Few talk about it, they're too afraid. Especially here in Las Vegas.”

“What's special about Vegas?”

“The Lapras have a lot of their people here.”

I shivered. “I wish I didn't have to spend so much time here.”

“Witch world has advantages over the real world. Your powers will develop here much more quickly and they'll help you get around.”

“By scaring people?” I asked.

“You won't have to do that. But it must be obvious to you by now that the Lapras have focused on first taking over witch world. That's why this world's become a gloomy place. Yet what they do here also damages the real world.”

“Give me an example,” I said.

“Let's take my job in the real world as a medical doctor. Did you know that sixty years ago I treated cancer in three ways—with chemotherapy, surgery, and radiation? Now, more than half a century later, if I use anything other than those three methods to cure a patient, I'll lose my license and probably go to jail.”

“Really?”

“Frightening, isn't it?”

“Yes. But what does that have to do with the Lapras?”

“They see normal human beings as inferior. They plan to be the next dominant life form on this planet. They don't want mankind to live long and healthy lives.”

“So they're messing with our health-care system?”

“They have complete control of the American Medical Association and the Food and Drug Administration.”

“Do they plan on wiping out normal people?” I asked.

“Perhaps. At the very least they want humanity under their control. That's why they've taken over witch world. It gives them a head start when it comes to taking over the real world.” My father paused. “That's why they have to be stopped.”

“Surely you don't blame the Lapras for all of our problems?”

“Not at all. But they're preventing men and women of goodwill from solving the problems facing both worlds. They're poisoning all levels of society.”

I shook my head. “I wish you hadn't told me all these things.”

“It's important that you know.”

“Why?”

“Because you can help us. You might be able to help us more than you realize.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“Your daughter. Lara.”

“My daughter is an infant. She's not some kind of weapon.”

“She was born with ten witch genes.”

“I thought nobody had them all.”

“Lara is the first,” my father said.

I felt anger rise inside. “Then if she was so important to you and your bloody Council, how come you let the Lapras steal her away?”

My father didn't answer right away. He turned and stared out the window at the pageant of colored lights. It seemed right then that I could sense the weight of his age. His body had not grown weary but perhaps his soul had.

“I remember the night Lara came to us,” he said finally. “There was a full moon in the sky, straight overhead, and the whole world felt as if it were bathed in a sweet radiance.
The light seemed to come from a celestial realm. There was music, too, not a sound I heard with my ears, but a vibration inside, which filled me with incredible joy. I thought it was my imagination—the dreams of a proud grandfather running wild. But when I spoke to the members of the Council, they said they felt the same thing. When Lara was born, it was as if a great being entered the world.”

“You're scaring me, Dad.”

“Why?”

“You sound like a religious fanatic.”

He smiled. “Maybe I am. But Cleo felt the same way I did and she's not easily moved. She privately named the child Isis, an ancient name for the divine mother. Isis was the primary Egyptian goddess. Legend has it that she bathes her devotees with a healing white light at the time of death.”

“Does Cleo believe this light activates the witch genes during the death experience?”

“That's a shrewd insight. Cleo says that's how the death experience pushes us on to the next level in human evolution.”

I shook my head. “I don't know. If this Cleo's so wise, why wasn't she able to protect my baby?”

“You were heavily guarded. The Council was watching both of you night and day. But on the seventh night something strange happened, something we had never encountered before. A red cloud seemed to descend on the house where you were staying. It was probably more mental than
physical, although it caused the stars to dim and the moon to vanish. Suddenly, we all became confused, and none of us knew exactly where you and Lara were. Our panic grew and we kept searching the house but we couldn't even keep track of each other. When the red cloud finally lifted, at dawn, we realized someone had snuck into the house and taken the child.”

I wiped at the tears on my cheeks. The loss had returned with almost the same pain as before. I had to struggle to breathe.

“But your Council's so old, so wise. They must have a theory how this happened,” I said.

“Ask them when you meet with them tomorrow.”

“I will. How old is Lara now?”

“She must be close to a month.”

I nodded sadly. “She was born right around the same time as Jimmy's baby.”

“The Lapras took him as well.”

I almost jumped from my seat. “What are you talking about? Jimmy's baby is dead.”

“They just led Jimmy to think that.”

“How?”

“They stole another baby from somewhere else and killed it and gave him the body. At that age, tons of babies look alike. They didn't have to use an elaborate scheme to fool Jimmy and Kari.”

“How could they do such a thing?” I gasped.

“The Lapras will do anything to achieve their goals. They appear to be devoid of empathy.”

“Why did they take our babies?”

“They took Lara because they somehow scanned her cells and discovered she possesses all ten genes. They see her as a potential ally.”

“A one-month-old baby.”

“The Lapras think long-term.”

“Why did they take Jimmy and Kari's baby?”

“Probably to manipulate Jimmy so he will put pressure on you—when the time is right.”

“What does that mean?”

“The Lapras know we're going to try to get Lara back. The more leverage they can exert over Jimmy, the better. Remember, all he knows about is Huck. Only James knows about Lara. Lara will mean nothing to Jimmy.”

“But when I explain that she's his daughter . . .”

“We'll see,” my father said. He glanced at his watch. “Russell should be back soon.”

“What kind of errand did you send him on?”

“It concerns Lara. But let him explain how it went when he returns.”

“Russell acted shocked that I ended up in the morgue. But it seems you guys wanted me to get kidnapped and dumped in that meat locker. What went wrong?”

“The Lapras kidnapped you from the meat locker before we could get there.”

“I assume you had me heavily guarded?” I said sarcastically.

He lowered his head. “We took every precaution.”

“I'm sorry, Dad. I had no right to snap at you like that.”

“No. We deserve it.” He looked miserable. “I'm a doctor and you're my daughter. The Council put me in charge of reviving you. There were four of us in a van. We knew when you had been placed in the freezer and when you would begin to pass out from hypothermia. We also had two people at the freezer. They had a camera on you and were sending us a live feed of what you were doing.”

“You saw me talking to the steer and using the hook to break the hinges?”

“That was very clever. But I'm your father, it was torture to watch you suffering. At the same time, if you had escaped, we would have had to start all over again.”

“What happened next?” I asked.

“We lost our live feed. We tried calling the men guarding the meat locker but neither responded. Then the same thing happened the night Lara was taken. A red haze came and we began to have trouble communicating with each other. It was like we were all speaking a foreign language we had never heard before. Then we got lost.”

“On your way to the meat locker?”

“I know it sounds impossible. I know every street in this
city. But it didn't matter which way we turned. We kept coming back to the same place.”

“Where?”

He shrugged. “Nowhere. We were driving in circles. It went on for hours. Finally, it was as if a veil lifted and we knew which way to go. But when we reached the freezer, you were gone and our partners were dead, their throats slit. They had been murdered.”

“Were they friends of yours?”

“Yes.”

“I'm so sorry.” I paused. “I understand how I froze to death in the real world. But when I woke up here, in witch world, I was frozen as well. Who put me in the meat locker here?”