The Mirror Man, стр. 89
“I don’t know,” he told Scott, “after your people took him out of the house, he’s probably just happy to see us again. Poor thing is just confused.”
Scott pursed his lips and scrutinized the animal for a long moment. “A loyal companion,” he said at last.
“You have no idea.” Jeremiah absently tightened his grip on Louie’s collar. “So how do we do this?”
Scott took a phone from his pocket and tapped a quick series of buttons.
“You’ll notice an icon for a bank account on the home screen of this phone, Mr. Adams.” Jeremiah took the cell phone from him as he continued. “The initial password has been set as ‘replica 321.’ You will see the transaction has already been made to the account in the amount agreed upon. Once you’re satisfied, you can change the password and relinquish the package.”
Jeremiah opened the file and nodded when he saw the account balance was just slightly in excess of $10 million.
He handed over the package. Louie leaned in hard against his knee as Jeremiah changed his bank password to Brent’s cell number.
Scott tore the paper away from the package, letting the wrapping fall at his feet, and unzipped the top of the lunch box to view the contents. He looked away with a sickened but satisfied expression and nodded once. He then extended a hand to Jeremiah.
“I must say, Mr. Adams,” he said. “You surprise me. I never would have thought you capable of this sort of willful deceit when we first met. If I had, I think I might have selected another test subject.”
“Yeah, well, I guess you never really know a person as well as you think, do you?”
“I have a feeling you may be right about that, Mr. Adams. You may be right.”
Jeremiah opened the back door of the car and Louie jumped in and settled himself down on the leather seat, still panting with excitement. Jeremiah took his place behind the wheel, looked once at Parker and drove away from the ViMed lab for the last time.
He had no real idea where they were headed. But it didn’t matter. He’d just keep driving until they decided to stop somewhere. As he turned onto the expressway, heading away from the city, away from everything, he felt an intense excitement rise up in him—a feeling he’d almost forgotten he was capable of. Everything ahead of him seemed so full of potential, vivid with possibility. The fact that it was unknown, untested, only made it that much sweeter. He had Parker. He had a second chance. A single finger seemed suddenly a small price to pay. No matter which direction they chose to go, a new beginning would be waiting like a blank page ready to be filled, and Jeremiah was holding the pen. It was exhilarating, so much so that he actually laughed out loud.
“I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon,” he said to his son. “Maybe we should head west.”
“Sounds awesome,” Parker said, “and maybe rafting on the Colorado River.”
“Why not? This is going to be a good life. We’re going to do it right. I promise. But you do realize, I hope, that once we get settled somewhere, you’re going to have to go back to school, right? You’re going to have to graduate.”
Parker didn’t answer him. His head was turned toward the back seat of the car.
“What the hell is up with Louie?” he asked.
Jeremiah looked up in the rearview mirror. What he saw made his heart stop. The dog was baring his teeth, growling almost inaudibly, his ears pulled slightly back against his head.
The dog was looking directly at Parker.
Chapter 43
He’d told Parker they needed to stop at home to pick up Louie’s things. That the people from ViMed hadn’t known what to get.
“His bed, an extra leash. It’ll only take a few minutes,” he said, “and then we’ll hit the road.” He had to work to keep the tremor from his voice.
Why the hell had he let Parker go off alone with Scott for that cloning? What the hell had they done with his son?
His mind raced as he tried to get hold of the situation. They’d switched them and left him with Parker’s clone. And they’d used the Meld to pump every single memory—everything Jeremiah and Parker had been through over the last several hours, the cloning, the conversation about Diana, and all of it—into the mind of this thing.
“I thought we weren’t supposed to go back here. I mean, what if your clone is there? Or mine? That’ll be a bit awkward.”
“I think we’ll be okay,” Jeremiah said. “But just in case, I’ll park down the street a bit and you stay in the car. Head down.” He tried to smile. “Sort of like spy stuff.”
Parker’s clone shrugged.
Natalie should have been here by now, but he didn’t see her car anywhere. When he’d pulled off the road and thought for a few frantic minutes about who to call for help, he’d quickly realized that she was the only one he could trust now, the only one who could possibly put this right. And she owed him. He wasn’t leaving without his son.
“Meet me at my house in a half hour,” he’d told her. “Bring Meld and whatever else you need to put back all of those memories into my son. I want him back the way I left him. Intact.”
Jeremiah peered into the garage door window of the house. There was no car inside. He glanced at his watch. The clone would be at work for at least another hour. Parker, no doubt, was in his bedroom playing video games. He tried the kitchen door. It was locked. Looking around in as casual a manner as he could manage, he saw no neighbors on the