Xenofreak Nation, Book Three: XIA (5 page)

Nicola Fournier
. The Bestia Butcher’s most successful experiment, and most treasured possession.

Scott couldn’t help but stare. Fournier’s ‘daughter’ was an older version of Scott’s adopted sister May. May and Nicola had been cloned from the same genetic material, but May hadn’t lived long enough to discover her origins. He wondered briefly if Nicola knew, but mostly, he felt like Christmas had come again. They’d captured Lupus, Fournier’s top lieutenant, removed Padme from Fournier’s control, and now Nicola was standing here in all her innocence, like a present with a shiny bow on top of her head.

He still wasn’t sure how old she was. She looked like a pre-teen, but her manner made her seem a little older. Her calm demeanor had a pacifying effect on Savvy, or, as she’d referred to him, ‘Felson.’ His agitation subsided as soon as she appeared at his side, but the savant said glumly, “They’re going to take you away.”

“I know,” she responded. “And it’s all right. I can’t stay here, even though you’ve done such a good job protecting me.”

Savvy seemed pleased at the praise, but the worried crease between his brows remained.

Nicola looked at Scott. One of her eyebrows, both of which had been replaced with a fan of delicate grey feathers, lifted. “My dad has no idea you’re with the XIA.”

“Good,” Scott replied. “You know he’s not really your father, right?”

Her head went back as if he’d slapped her. “He is, too.”

“But you know where you come from.” It wasn’t a question.

She looked around at the destruction and spread her hands. “I come from here. I was born in this facility. It’s home, or was until the fire. But yeah, I know what you mean. I’m a clone. I found out two days ago.”

“Why are you here?” Lo asked. “Where’s your father?”

“I’m
here
because I found out I’m a clone.” Nicola’s voice was scornful. “I ran away. And I may be mad at my dad, but I’m not going to tell you where he is. No matter what you do to me.”

For the first time, Savvy lifted his eyes and looked directly at Scott. The threat in his gaze was unmistakable. Scott said, “No one’s going to hurt her. Our job is to protect people.”

Savvy looked back down. He seemed like he was going to cry and Scott felt sorry for him, but not enough to drop his guard. The guy obviously had strong feelings for Nicola.

“Alright. Let’s go,” he said. “You too, Savvy.”

“I need my stuff,” Savvy said.

“And I won’t leave without Perky,” Nicola put in.

Perky turned out to be her cockatiel. Scott remembered the bird well – or rather its obnoxious squawking. He’d been trying to get Nicola safely out of the facility while enemy soldiers crawled the corridors, and the bird wouldn’t shut up.

Savvy’s precious stuff turned out to be a newer hologame system, a portable 3D printer, and several smaller items that looked as if they’d been scrounged from the debris. He crammed it all into a worn backpack.

When everything and everyone had been loaded into the sedan, Nicola said, “Cougar?”

“Name’s Scott.”

“Oh…Scott?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still have my mother’s books?”

The books were the other thing Nicola refused to leave when Scott was trying to get her to evacuate the facility. In actuality, the psychology textbooks had belonged to
Bryn’s
mother, but he wasn’t about to tell Nicola that. He understood why she insisted on calling Fournier her father – the man had raised her, after all – but now that she knew she was a clone, did she realize she didn’t actually
have
a mother? Whoever had carried and given birth to her was merely a surrogate.

“They’re around somewhere,” he said.

“Good. I want them back, okay?”

“We’ll see what we can do.”

Bryn had them, of course. He’d given them to her after the XIA released them from evidence. She didn’t consider the books to be all that special since she had photos and mementos of growing up with her mother. Nicola had treasured the books, though; they were the only thing she had that belonged to Miranda Vega. Not that she necessarily knew Miranda’s married name. The books all had the same inscription on the inside of the front cover: ‘This book belongs to Miranda McKim.’ He and Bryn had discussed it once.

“Do you think Nicola knew about me?” she’d asked.

“I highly doubt it. I got the impression she doesn’t know anything about where she comes from.”

“I wonder if she knows how awful he is? You know, the—the body parts?”

Scott knew Bryn was thinking about her mother’s heart, wondering if Nicola knew Fournier had kept it. Fournier was the most infamous of the xenosurgeons, and it was well known he had a nasty habit of collecting keepsakes from his patients in jars of formaldehyde. Bryn had seen the macabre display in his bedroom.

“Maybe. He kept her hidden away. For all we know, she’s just as twisted as he is.”

Bryn shook her head. “You said she seemed normal.”

“I spent like ten minutes with her, mostly running from people who wanted to kill us. She’s young, and she seemed…naïve.”

It wasn’t the first or the last time they’d talked about it, but that particular conversation stuck with him. Was it possible Fournier had managed to raise Nicola to be normal? He turned in his seat and caught her looking at him.

“Are we going to your headquarters?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Do you have showers there? It’s been two days and I’m gross.”

“I’m sure we can hook you up.”

“Awesome.” She heaved a sigh and slipped down a little in her seat. “This is going to really spork Daddy off.”

Bryn was worried she wouldn’t be allowed to go with Mia into the back of the store, but Turk, who was clearly more than a store clerk, said, “We’re a little low on donors, so you might want your friend along to help you choose.”

“Choose?”

Mia was still holding the tissue to her face, so her expression was hidden, but Bryn heard the dismay in her voice. It probably never occurred to her that she’d have to come face to face with her live donor before she doomed it.

Mia’s discomfort went right over Turk’s head. He led them through a door into a brightly-lit hallway with white walls, ceiling and floors. The lack of color gave the impression of cleanliness, and Mia seemed to relax some. Bryn noted the presence of a dome security camera on the ceiling and turned her face away.

Turk locked the door behind him, chattering away. “We got garter, gopher, bull and corn snakes, bearded dragons, and about ten baby alligators. For you, though, I’d recommend a gecko. We got about seven left, all different colors.”

“What about a—a mouse?” Mia asked. He stopped outside another door and gave her a strange look.

“We don’t do furries. Did you not
see
the name of the store?”

“What do you feed the snakes?” she asked weakly.

“Mice.” He said it like he was talking to a moron. “Non-bioengineered. I mean, we could totally graft one of ’em on to ya if you want us to, but it wouldn’t stick.”

Bryn put a hand on Mia’s coat sleeve, but then took it away as she realized the gesture of reassurance would probably backfire.

“Take a deep breath,” Bryn said, “and remember why we’re here.”

“Yeah, really,” Turk said.

Mia shot him a look of defiance and pulled the tissue away, but gagged as soon as she inhaled, even though the stink was almost non-existent back here. The tissue went back over her nose as Turk laughed.

“Alright, looks like we should get this over with before you hurl,” he said.

Behind the door were glass cages just like in the store. They were lit with purplish bulbs and most of the occupants were unmoving. Mia stood stock still in the middle of the room, her eyes moving from cage to cage. Bryn fully expected her to back out of it at this point, but then Mia’s eyes narrowed and she walked over to a cage in the corner.

“Oh, that one’s not available,” Turk said. “It’s a special order.”

Bryn went to Mia’s side and looked down at the fat, orange and black lizard that had captured her attention. It was a Gila monster, like Jason’s graft.

“Uh, yeah, you don’t want that one anyway,” Bryn said, glad the lighting in the room wouldn’t give away her blush. “Jason’s had, um, problems with his.”

Jason’s xenofreak name was ‘Dragila,’ after his Gila monster xenograft and tattoo. The graft was extremely sensitive, a fact Bryn knew because she’d touched it and got a response that was more than she’d bargained for.

Turk chuckled suggestively. “I’ll bet. Rumor has it monsters are gonna be a
real
popular graft soon.”

Mia was still staring at the Gila monster. “How much?”

“Like I said, that one’s not available.”

“Not even for fifty thousand?” Mia asked.

Bryn bit her lip. Mia clearly didn’t understand what she and Turk had been alluding to. Turk said, “Be right back.”

He left them in the room and Bryn did her best to entice Mia with some of the colorful little geckos, but she seemed fixated on the Gila monster. When Turk returned five minutes later, he said cheerfully, “You’re in luck. The boss doesn’t think the person who ordered that little guy can pay the new price, you know, since demand has gone up so much. Let’s get you prepped.” He held the door open.

In the hallway, Bryn swallowed her embarrassment and tried to warn Mia again. “Look, the thing is, Jason’s graft is kind of tied into his, um, nervous system in a sort of special way…”

“Yeah,” Turk interjected, “we’re gonna put performance enhancing drug companies out of business.”

Bryn saw Mia’s chin lift as understanding dawned, but she lowered the hand with the tissue so she could open her purse. She took out the envelope of cash and handed it to Turk. Clutching her purse to her chest, she said, “I’m ready.”

On the drive back to XIA headquarters, they ran into a road block. Traffic was crawling, so Scott took the opportunity to check his messages. He must have had a scowl on his face when he read the one from Bryn, because Lo asked, “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head and dialed Mia’s number. A holo with the CDC’s logo popped up and Mia’s voice said, “I’m unavailable to take your call. Leave a message.”

Scott didn’t want to say anything personal, so he just said, “Call me back ASAP.”

Next, he sent an email to Shasta letting her know who they had in custody.

Up ahead, there was a bend in the road, and from here he could see the roadblock was manned by two soldiers with automatic rifles. The soldiers waved several cars through, then stopped a Mercedes. One of the soldiers stood in front of the car with his rifle pointed almost casually at the windshield while the other walked around to the driver’s side and made a gesture with his hand to roll down the window. Over the top of the car, Scott saw him duck down to converse with the driver.

“What do you ‘spose they’re looking for?” Lo asked.

“I don’t know, but that soldier’s hair is kinda long, isn’t it?”

“Think he’s National Guard and got called in before he could get a crew cut?”

Scott looked down the line of cars, pausing at a shiny red Audi Electrica. “Let’s see who they stop next.”

Lo’s face fell. “Ya think?”

“Yeah, I’d bet on it.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Nicola asked.

Savvy cleared his throat. “They aren’t real soldiers. They’re robbing people.”

Scott gave Savvy a dirty look, which the savant seemed not to notice.

“Is that true?” Nicola asked. “Are you going to arrest them?”

Lo shook her head. “They’ve got too much firepower. I’m sure one of their victims already called the police.”

“Who are obviously not responding.” Nicola’s voice was acerbic. “I thought you said you helped people.”

“Right now we’re a little busy trying to help
you
,” Scott said. “If we take them on, you’ll be in danger. Do you understand that?”

Nicola pressed her lips together, but nodded.

The soldiers let the Mercedes go and waved several cars through, but as Scott predicted, they stopped the Audi.

“They won’t stop us, will they?” Nicola asked.

“Unlikely,” Scott replied, not taking his eyes off the soldiers. “We don’t look rich.”

They waited in tense silence as the ‘soldier’ spoke to the driver of the Audi. It was taking a long time; much longer than the Mercedes, which only meant one thing.

“Come
on
,” Scott said under his breath, mentally urging the driver to cooperate and hand over his wallet. He couldn’t see the driver, but the passenger was a woman. Her pale face was turned in his direction.

He took his eye patch off, pleased to find the swelling had gone down enough for him to see, then looked at Lo and jerked his head in Nicola and Savvy’s direction. “They’ll be okay here. There’s like ten cars ahead of us.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” she replied. She reached under her jacket for her weapon and turned to Nicola. “Stay in the car. Keep your heads
down
. And don’t think about running for it. I’m going to lock you in.”

Lo slipped out the driver’s side door and Scott crawled across the console to exit that way, too, since the second soldier would have seen him from the passenger side. Lo beeped the locks.

He pulled his gun and let Lo take the lead. Bent down, they ran past several cars, finally stopping next to a pickup truck four cars back from the Audi.

“Dude,” Scott heard. He looked up. The driver of the truck had his window rolled down and was shaking his head at him. “What are you doing?”

“We’re cops. Those aren’t soldiers. Get down.”

The driver of the truck didn’t wait to be told twice, sinking down below the bottom of the window, but Scott heard him say, “Don’t shoot up my truck, man. It’s almost paid off.”

“Yeah, that’s my main concern,” Scott muttered, but his voice was drowned out by the soldier standing by the Audi, shouting at the driver, “I’m gonna
kill
you man! Don’t you get that?”

Lo looked around at him. “You wearing a vest?”

Both of them had been shot two days ago, but her vest and his bullet-resistant clothing had saved them.

“Nope. Not today.”

“Me neither. What’s the plan?”

“We got to draw them away from these cars. Too many civilians.”

She glanced over at the metal guardrail, which had a sturdy concrete barrier at its base. “I’ll go.”

They didn’t have time to work out another plan, so he covered her from the front of the truck as she leapt the barrier and ran, hunched over. He halfway expected the second soldier to see her, but the guy was focused on his partner, who was counting down loudly.

“Six, five, four…”

Scott could tell Lo wasn’t going to make it into position in time, so he ran back behind the pickup truck and burst out from behind it. From this angle, the soldiers wouldn’t have to shoot over cars, potentially hitting someone. Scott ran into an overgrown field and threw himself down as he shouted, “Drop your weapons!”

As expected, the soldier counting down straightened up and aimed. The second soldier also turned in his direction, but then Lo yelled, “Lower your weapons,
now
!”

Maybe it would have worked, but the driver of the Audi inexplicably decided to gun the engine and run down the second soldier with a sickening thud. The first soldier opened fire on the Audi and it came to a sudden stop. Lo shot the soldier in the back, twice.

As the soldier fell, it looked like the danger was over, but Scott didn’t take anything for granted. Gun arm extended out in front of him, he ran towards the Audi. Lo had already arrived at the body of the man she’d shot. Her hand was at his throat, feeling for a pulse. She spotted Scott and shook her head. He rounded the front of the Audi and saw the top half of the second man. His bottom half was under the car. His eyes were open and so was his mouth, which was filled with blood. Scott knelt down as the blood spilled over and trailed down the side of his face. He was obviously dead, but Scott checked his pulse to be sure.

When he straightened up, he saw Lo checking the occupants of the Audi. The driver was dead, but the passenger had a non-life-threatening wound to the lower leg. She was crying hysterically. “We told them we didn’t have any money. We
stole
this car! Why would we steal a car if we had money?”

Lo called it in, then went back to the sedan, got in, and drove off the road into the field. She parked it in an out of the way place, while Scott went to the first four vehicles behind the Audi and told the drivers they’d need to stay to give a statement to the police when they got here. One of the drivers was a nurse, and she offered to look at the Audi passenger’s wound.

The driver of the pickup truck tried to argue when Scott told him he’d have to stay put. “Come on, man, I’m late for work.”

“Well, you got a good excuse, don’t you?”

“Am I gonna have to go to court?”

“Maybe,” Scott replied irritably. “Why don’t you shut your mouth and do your civic duty, okay?”

Lo left Nicola and Savvy sitting in the sedan and met up with Scott at the side of the road. “Dispatch says it’s going to be hours before anyone responds. The city’s a mess.”

Scott flexed his claws and asked, “You okay?”

“What, the kill? Fine.”

He nodded. “I guess we got a looong morning of directing traffic ahead of us.”

She pointed to a car and waved to the driver that he should leave the road and go around the other cars. “Booya.”