Chapter 78 78.
I GOT OUT of bed, pulled on some clothes, and went to the kitchen to make myself a cup of high-protein coffee. My mind was still fuzzy, but that was understandable after lying unconscious for days. All in all, I was satisfied that I felt as good as I did. I"m thankful that I heal as fast as I do. All Elites do, but I seem particularly fortunate in that respect.
A few minutes later, I heard the front door open, and I rushed to meet my daughters, throwing open my arms, missing them even more than I thought I had.
"Chloe, April!" I cried. "Now... which one of you is which? which one of you is which?"
But instead of laughing and hurling themselves into my arms as I"d hoped, they stayed where they were, their little faces subdued. Metallico, the sa.s.siest robot on the planet, stood behind them, as rigid as a tree.
I was absolutely stunned into silence. Something was very wrong here.
"What? No big hug for Daddy?" I finally managed a few words.
That brought Chloe and April to me-reluctantly-for a quick embrace. But then they pulled away. It was as if they barely knew me.
"We missed you," said April.
"Missed you," echoed Chloe.
Then the two of them shared a look and hurried off to their room and all their books and toys.
I turned to Metallico. "What"s going on?" I said. "What am I missing here?"
"Going on, sir?" he replied with the formality of a butler in a palace, someone else"s someone else"s palace. "I don"t know what you mean. No idea. Now if you"ll excuse me, I have duties to attend to." The huffy robot marched stiffly past me toward the kitchen. palace. "I don"t know what you mean. No idea. Now if you"ll excuse me, I have duties to attend to." The huffy robot marched stiffly past me toward the kitchen.
Sir? Metallico had never called me that before. He"d always treated me like an equal-at best. Metallico had never called me that before. He"d always treated me like an equal-at best.
So I followed Chloe and April to their room. I found them playing with Jessica and Jacob dolls. Lizbeth must have given in and bought them while I was gone. I just hoped they weren"t the adult versions. Even these dolls looked at me funnily.
"Are you mad at Daddy?" I asked. "Did I do something I"m not aware of?"
They shook their heads, but neither girl spoke a word to me. Nor did the thoroughly creepy dolls.
"So what"s the matter with you two gremlins? You don"t seem glad to see me."
Chloe, my four-year-old, squirmed uncomfortably. "Mommy said something really bad happened to you. She said-"
"She said we"re not not supposed to talk about it," her older sister-age six-interrupted. "We"re just glad you"re all right, Daddy. We feel nothing but love and admiration for you. You"re a hero." supposed to talk about it," her older sister-age six-interrupted. "We"re just glad you"re all right, Daddy. We feel nothing but love and admiration for you. You"re a hero."
"You"re a hero!" mimicked Jessica and Jacob.
Lizbeth had probably been worked up when she explained things to our daughters, and they"d sensed her tension more than they"d heard what she actually said. Now they were just afraid. Temporarily, I hoped.
Or maybe all this strange behavior was just in my own mind-part of the anesthesia hangover.
"Something bad did happen to me. An accident," I told the girls. "But it"s all over, and I"m fine. What do you want to do now? How about if I whip us up some"-I paused, frowning-"banana splits." What I"d started to say was no-cal no-cal banana splits. Where had banana splits. Where had that that odd thought come from? Of course the treats would be no-cal. All Elite food was. Only human food was... odd thought come from? Of course the treats would be no-cal. All Elite food was. Only human food was...
"Then we could play 3-D Monopoly," I said. "Or whatever you want. We can even play with your dolls." Creepy critters that they are. Creepy critters that they are.
"I"d like to play with Daddy," said Jessica with a leer. "Play with me, Daddy?"
Then Metallico came into the room with a silent, gliding walk that I"d never seen before. It was downright eerie, actually.
"The girls have had a busy day," he said. "My instructions from Lizbeth are to see to it that they have their baths, then their homework, and some much needed rest."
I didn"t like any of this, but I accepted that my judgment was probably shaky. I decided to let it go. "All right then-brush and flush!" I said to the girls.
"But first, one more hug. For good luck, for good measure, and just for fun!"
Slowly, Chloe and April came to me and granted their dad a hug. But then April said, "Good luck, Daddy," and it sounded like she really meant it, like she knew I needed some luck.
"Good luck, Daddy!" chimed in Jacob and Jessica.
I wandered around the apartment after I left the girls, trying to get interested in the adult simulators and other toys of my own. But I was restless, I guess. I"d been cooped up inside long enough, hadn"t I? Maybe that was the problem.
A good, hard run would be just what I needed to get back to normal, to be Hays Baker once again.
Chapter 79 79.
WHEN LIZBETH ARRIVED at the sparkling gla.s.s palace known as Agency Headquarters, the atmosphere was more celebration than anything resembling regular police business. In fact, two dozen of the Elite government"s highest-ranking officials were gathered in the main briefing room, sipping wine and c.o.c.ktails. The conversations were charged with giddy antic.i.p.ation of 7-4 Day.
Jax Moore met her as she came in and took her aside. "What"s the update on Hays?" Moore asked quietly as he held a trademark cigar aloft.
"Exactly what we want it to be, Jax: he thinks everything"s the same as always. He believes his hospitalization and healing followed his fall with that skunk motorcycle rider. He has no memory whatsoever of Europe. There was a blurred memory of voices overheard saying he was human, but I got him settled down."
A smooth smile eased across Moore"s chiseled face. "I can imagine."
Lizbeth smiled back archly. "You don"t have to imagine, do you, Jax?" don"t have to imagine, do you, Jax?"
"You did your duty. Well done. President Jacklin will be very happy," Jax Moore said then. "Now we send him after his half sister, and no matter which one kills the other, we win."
Her smile stayed, but the slightest trace of unhappiness came into her eyes. "Of course we win. Elites have been winning every battle for thirty years. How else could this turn out?"
Moore didn"t seem to notice Lizbeth"s slight frown. "You"re the bright star tonight, Lizbeth," he said. "Let"s get you a drink, then it"s time for you to take a bow. This augurs well for 7-4 Day."
He snapped his fingers and an obsequious robot waiter hurried over to offer her a perfectly made martini. Then Jax Moore turned to address the other guests. Their talk stopped, and everyone watched expectantly.
"As you know very well, we don"t usually hold Agency briefings in the form of c.o.c.ktail parties," he began, then waited for a ripple of laughter to quiet. "But this isn"t an ordinary occasion. It"s really a surprise surprise party-except the surprise isn"t for us. party-except the surprise isn"t for us.
"On the coming 7-4 Day, our human neighbors are going to get the biggest surprise the modern world has ever seen. My friends, in just eighty hours, the human race will be completely eliminated. The greatest threat the earth has ever known will be gone. Hear, hear!"
"It has been a long time coming," Lizbeth added. "Too long." long."
Another excited murmur rose from the audience-the closest these reserved Elites ever came to cheering, or any such show of emotion.
"Let me add that we owe much of our upcoming success to the genius of this lady," Moore went on, draping an arm around Lizbeth"s shoulders. "A toast to Lizbeth Baker-as brilliant as she is beautiful. No one has sacrificed more."
Gla.s.ses clinked together like chimes, and there was a chorus of hearty congratulations.
Lizbeth raised her own gla.s.s in gracious acknowledgment and flashed another brilliant smile. But then she moved quietly out of the limelight, to have a moment alone. The thrill she should have felt was smothered by the distress that was tightening her stomach. She lived by her steely intellect, and she scorned people who were soft in any way. But now she"d fallen into that sort of mess herself, hadn"t she?
She wasn"t bothered in the least by wiping out the nauseating human race. They were no more than insects to her-or worse- and the sooner they were eliminated from earth, the better for everyone, perhaps even for the humans themselves. and the sooner they were eliminated from earth, the better for everyone, perhaps even for the humans themselves.
But tonight underscored what was was troubling her: troubling her: Hays was the problem. Hays was the problem.
When she"d first learned that he was human, she was, of course, outraged. She"d vented by making him a p.a.w.n against his own kind-then blocking his memory of those events. One way or another, he"d be dead in a matter of hours-loving husband and father, genuine hero for the cause, a man who had enriched her life in countless ways. The sense of loss was already cutting deep, and there was nothing her intellect could do about it. Dammit, she still loved Hays, didn"t she?
Shake it off, Lizbeth! she told herself fiercely. she told herself fiercely. Hays is pitiful-a human. Hays is pitiful-a human.
As she started to rejoin the crowd, a hand patted her from behind. She turned and looked into the face of the hulking McGill-Hays"s former partner and friend. He was smoking a cigar, just like his mentor, Jax Moore.
"So what"s it like jumping in the sack with a skunk?" McGill cracked, leering at her b.r.e.a.s.t.s as he always did. He"d obviously had far too much to drink already.
"We need to keep him happy as long as he"s useful. Until 7-4, certainly," Lizbeth answered coolly. "I do what I have to-it"s called being professional. It"s my duty."
"Let me know when you"re ready for the real thing-with another professional."
I"d sooner sleep with a baboon was her first withering thought-a comparison that wasn"t far off. But then again, what better way to take final revenge against a husband who had weakened and confused her totally? was her first withering thought-a comparison that wasn"t far off. But then again, what better way to take final revenge against a husband who had weakened and confused her totally?
"Well, a widow widow may need consoling," she said and, for the first time in days, smiled in a way that felt genuine. Her true self was taking charge again: logical, selfish, brutal when necessary. may need consoling," she said and, for the first time in days, smiled in a way that felt genuine. Her true self was taking charge again: logical, selfish, brutal when necessary.
"I"ll be there for you," said McGill, and then he added, "It"s my duty too, and I"m very good at it. I"m all Elite, Lizbeth."
She laughed at that one-and lit up her own cigar.
Chapter 80 80.
I LEFT MY apartment in a slight daze and walked the short distance to a favorite running path along the winding, and quite beautiful, Imperial Lake.
I busied myself stretching and limbering up along the way. Then I took off, going easy at first-testing myself to find out if I was more weakened than I thought.
But my body felt better than I had any right to expect, and I cranked up my speed until I was flying along in smooth, ten-yard strides.
There was hardly any traffic along the narrow lake road-one of the reasons I liked it here. A delivery vehicle with the logo of Ultima Medical Supplies zipped past me, and a few minutes later, I saw that it had pulled into a service area ahead.
When I got there, the driver was leaning into the rear door, struggling with what appeared to be a large machine for delivery.
I slowed to a trot. "Need help?" I called. This was the kind of thing that Lizbeth hated about me-what she called my "mindless do-gooder impulses."
"Would you mind? d.a.m.n thing slipped off its tracks," called the driver-a female worker, as it turned out.
Her voice set off a tiny tick in my mind-like maybe I"d heard it before. But the sound was m.u.f.fled, and where could I have run into this particular delivery person? I dismissed the thought as another one of my recent quirks, exactly what Lizbeth had warned me about.
As I walked closer, she hopped inside the vehicle and began moving her fingers expertly across the machine"s controls. As I looked on, the machine came to life with little clicks and whirs, the monitor readouts flashing.
"That"s an impressive piece of equipment," I said. "What"s it do?"
"Oh, it"s an ultrasound scanner-uses sonic waves to destroy foreign objects in the body, like kidney stones or blood clots," she answered.
Then the delivery person swung around and looked straight at me.
"Or the tracking chip that effing Lizbeth planted in your brain," she said. "h.e.l.lo, Hays."
Chapter 81 81.
IN THAT INSTANT, I recognized both the face and the voice. She was the terrorist terrorist who"d led the attack on Lizbeth and me after the president"s party. who"d led the attack on Lizbeth and me after the president"s party.
I lunged toward her-but an electronic jolt slammed into my eyes and immediately pierced through to the back of my skull.
Then came a loud pop, pop, and I felt as if I were getting smashed with a hammer on the and I felt as if I were getting smashed with a hammer on the inside inside of my head. of my head.
I spun away in agony, clutching my temple. Then I felt her her hands catch my shoulders. hands catch my shoulders.
I managed clumsily to grab hold of her, determined to take her down too.
But the female terrorist didn"t fight or pull away-just held on to me, almost in an embrace.
"Calm down, Hays," she soothed. "You"ll be all better in a few seconds. Trust me."
When she spoke my name, a powerful whirlwind of images erupted in my memory-all the things that had really really happened during the days when I thought I"d been lying unconscious in an Elite hospital. Stunned and confused as I was, I understood immediately. happened during the days when I thought I"d been lying unconscious in an Elite hospital. Stunned and confused as I was, I understood immediately.
"Lucy?" I said hoa.r.s.ely. I said hoa.r.s.ely.