Terry Neale - Jo-el

An hour passed with me lost in thought. Sally appeared suddenly in her usual place, a new outfit. Dark red, business-like dress, knee length, sensible black shoes. She’d reworked her hair; it was dark brown pinned close to her head, the epitome of elegance. She wore a thin, gold neckless, her cleavage was almost hidden. I wanted to work for her, to be her slave. She had retrieved one of the disc monitors and had placed it in the air by the TV.

“The FBI will arrive at their office in LA in about thirty minutes. The anoraks will be taken immediately to the lab. The agent in charge received a call from Langley, top priority, ahead of everything else. The senior fingerprint technician is the other side of the building at a meeting, he’s being called out of the meeting by the deputy director in LA right now and will be in the lab when the anoraks arrive. There will be a security guy with the anoraks, but he’ll leave once he hands the anoraks over to the technician. Here’s my plan.” Wow! Business-like to a T. “Once he’s alone in the lab I’ll knock the tech guy out and bounce you in. You will need to hide the tech guy, there’s a walk-in cupboard on the back wall, that will work fine, see.” Sally motioned toward the monitor, which showed the empty lab and I saw the door at the rear. “When the security guy arrives say a few polite words, he will then leave you. He knows who you are and understands what’s happening, shouldn’t be a problem. He’ll wait outside the lab door. As soon as the security guy has left, wipe down the anoraks, you probably know where you touched them. Once you’re done move the tech in the cupboard back into the lab, I’ll bounce you out and bring the real tech guy out of the faint. He’ll wonder what happened to himself but go to work on the anoraks. He won’t say anything about the fainting, might affect his position. He won’t find any fingerprints. What do you think.”

James Bond stuff. My heart beat quickened but it seemed like a good plan. Whatever happened Sally could bounce me out. “So I go in looking just like the tech guy?”

“Yes, of course.”

I was nervous but I couldn’t find fault with her plan. “Let’s do it.”

Sally put the tech guy on the monitor, he was walking toward the lab. He was portly but not too much, his hair was thinning, his face almost round, his cheeks were red and his nose looked like a pin cushion, maybe drank a little too much alcohol. Silly man. He sported a goatee, which was mostly grey. I stood up and changed my appearance to look exactly like him. Weird.

I watched the monitor, it now switched to the FBI car approaching the building. After a few minutes the car turned into the parking lot and crossed through security.

The senior technician reached the lab. He began preparing a space on a large table for the anoraks. The split screen showed a security guy, now carrying the plastic bags holding the anoraks toward the lab. Time for action. I looked at Sally and nodded. Suddenly the tech guy looked weak and fell to his knees as if he was having a heart attack. Beautiful Sally, couldn’t have him just faint and whack his head on the table. Once he was on his knees he collapsed onto the floor. Queue for me to go into action. My heartbeat jumped another notch, but I felt eager. I bounced into the lab and picked up the technician. The anti-gravity system made him light as a feather. I carried him over to the cupboard, placed him inside and shut the door. Then I waited, on my heads-up I could see the security guard carrying the anoraks down the corridor toward the lab. Eat your heart out James Bond. I was at the table when the door opened and he came in.

“Hey, Gordon.”

I nodded, indicating where I wanted the anoraks. He placed them on the table.

“Big deal this, eh!”

“I guess,” I said and he gave me an odd look. Damn, was the accent off, did I say the wrong thing? I didn’t know. I felt hot under my collar. He paused a split second as if he was going to say something else, then turned and headed for the door.

Phew! As soon as the door was closed I pulled out the anoraks and began wiping each one carefully on the front where I’d held the kids. It took no more than two minutes. I laid the garments on the table neatly and I went back to the cupboard and carried the tech guy to the floor by the table.

Then it all went wrong. Just as I was placing him in the spot where I wanted him, the door to the lab opened. I froze. A stern woman in a grey business suit entered, saw me and stopped dead about two feet inside the door. Her face was utter bewilderment. Even though she probably couldn’t see Gordon’s face properly lying on the floor there were enough similarities for her brain to blow a fuse. I watched her complexion change from white to crimson in seconds. For a long moment we stared at each other, neither knowing what to do or say.

“ Sally! Help.”

As my thoughts called Sally for help the woman screamed, throwing her hands up above her head, for what reason I had no idea, maybe she was surrendering. I heard the shuffle of feet in the corridor. Shit! The security man.

“ Go to the cupboard, shut the door, I’ll get you out.” Sally’s voice was calm and clear.

I raced for the cupboard, ran inside and yanked the door shut from the inside, my heart now beating like an F1 engine on the starting grid. In the next second I was back in my family room, panting.

“Fuck!”

Sally was grinning.

“You think that was funny?”

“You got the job done, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, but what are they going to think, now?”

“Does it matter?”

“Put it on the monitor.” My breathing was calming down, but my heart was still racing.

We both watched the monitor. Gordon was sitting up, gaining his composure. The woman had her right hand around his back, while kneeling on the floor. The security guy was looking in the cupboard, no doubt mystified. After a minute or so, more people entered the lab, but no one seemed to have a clue what to do.

“Did you know that woman was there?” I fumed at Sally.

“She was talking to the security guard.”

“That’s not what I asked. Who is she anyway?”

“Debra Barron, she’s another tech.”

“Why didn’t you warn me?”

“You were nearly done; I didn’t know she would come in.”

“What should we do about her?” I was relaxing.

“I could terminate her.”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“She saw a doppelganger, great reason for a heart attack.”

“Jesus, Sally. Enough. Killing people is not the solution to every problem.”

“A million people die every week, what’s another one person?”

“You’re not showing a lot of compassion here, Sally. I thought we were supposed to be saving the people of earth?” She was motionless in the armchair, then suddenly disappeared. I was startled and nearly fell over. Temperamental computer, I’d have to get used to that.

I was Dave Murphy again, walking at a fast pace through Golden Gate Park. The rain had stopped, but the chill March wind blew in heavily from the ocean. More dark clouds were forming and another dose of rain was imminent. Only the hardy had joined me to exercise that Monday afternoon. They were wrapped up thoroughly from the elements, their faces hidden in turned up collars or hoods drawn low over their foreheads. I paid no attention to them, they showed no interest in me. I wanted to rid my brain of Sally for as long as possible. Yet I knew it wouldn’t take long before she drenched my soul in thoughts about our disappearing existence on planet earth. As I walked I saw squirrels and birds and tiny insects and wondered what sort of life awaited us in the stars.