John Locke - A Girl Like You

“The babies would belong to the surrogate, though,” I say.

“Under normal circumstances, they would. But in this case, they’ll belong to the government, though I expect Rachel and Sam will be allowed to raise them and keep them, after the synthetic gene is created.”

Before I have a chance to comment, my cell phone rings. Doc Howard says, “I’m not sure what we’re looking for, but you were right about the blood tests.”

“How’s that?”

“They show substantial contamination.”

“All three?”

“All three.”

“Can your fax be traced?”

“No, of course not.”

“Then send them to me.”

“Where?”

“I don’t officially have a room here, so fax them to Roger Asprin.” I give him the name and phone number of the hotel. Moments later, Roger’s phone rings. I tell the front desk lady I’m sending Donovan Creed down to pick it up. The first thing I do is check to make sure there’s no phone number or point of origin on the pages. Once satisfied, I go back to Roger’s room and hand him one of the pages.

“Where did you get this?” he says. There’s alarm in his voice. Or maybe it’s excitement.

“Is it a match?” I say.

“It’s Rachel’s blood work,” Roger says.

“There are two more,” I say, handing him the other results.

“Who gave you these?”

“A new donor.”

“This must be a trick of some sort.”

“It’s no trick,” I say. “It’s Plan B.”

“What’s Plan B?”

“These blood tests came from Rachel’s mother.”

“Rachel’s parents are deceased. We checked. And there are no siblings.”

“The papers in your hand suggest otherwise. Anyway, I’m willing to exchange her for Rachel.”

“What?”

“You need the gene, Rachel’s mother has it. I’ll trade you the mom for the daughter.”

“She’d be willing to do that?”

“Who gives a shit? I can deliver her. That’s all you need to know.”

Roger shakes his head. “It won’t work.”

“Why not?”

“Because they’ll want both of them. They won’t give one up for the other, especially not the daughter for the mother. Her mother is almost certainly too old to produce eggs.”

“True.”

Roger says, “You must have realized that all along. I mean, surely you didn’t think we’d accept such a trade.”

“I did and still do.”

“It won’t work. And now that we know about Rachel’s mother, it’ll be impossible for you to hide her.”

“I don’t need to hide her.”

“What do you mean?”

“Plan B isn’t just about trading Rachel for her mom. It’s about keeping her in the U.S.A. You might have Rachel, but if you refuse to trade, I’ll sell her mother to the highest bidding enemy. Who knows what type of mutant virus they might be able to produce and unleash on the world.”

“You wouldn’t do that.”

“I would and I will. So here’s Plan B: I let you live, let your family live, and trade you Rachel’s mom for Rachel. Which means our government, and not our enemies, will have Rachel’s mom. In addition, I’ll put the lid on the world-wide announcement I’m prepared to make about what’s going on at Mount Weather. Now that I have proof of a genetic code, the world will take me seriously.”

“You don’t understand. We need Rachel’s eggs.”

“You can keep her long enough to get one more.”

“We’ll want at least a dozen embryos.”

“You’ve already got one.”

“We have an egg, Donovan. Not an embryo.”

“I’ll personally deliver her eggs to you until you get a dozen embryos. After you let her go. On one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“You have to keep Sam in Area B for the rest of his life. So he, along with his mother-in-law, can care for his children. I’m sure the children will benefit from having not only their father, but their grandmother as well.”

Despite the gravity of the discussion, Roger had to smile. “You’d stick that poor man in a hole with his mother-in-law for the rest of his life? After removing his wife?”

I shrugged. “What do you think?”

42.

It makes sense to let Rachel stay underground long enough to produce a few eggs for the scientists. After all, Sherry Cherry will be in no condition to travel for at least a couple of months. I know the government won’t want this deal, but Roger will be very persuasive that it’s a good one. I’m counting on him to make a passionate argument for the deal, since everyone he loves will die if he doesn’t.

43.

Some people might question what kind of person would kidnap Rachel’s mother and force her to live in an underground hole for years and possibly the rest of her life to be a guinea pig for science. The answer is, I’m the type who’d do that, and I’d do it without hesitation. I’m not happy about the idea of Rachel’s kids being imprisoned for the next ten years or more, but I don’t know them, and apparently they’ll be Sam and Rachel’s kids, or the government’s, so I’ll have to deal with it.

44.

It takes eight days before the deal is struck, during which time Sherry Cherry’s blood work results are passed around the scientific community like panties in a prison yard. Seven of the days were spent trying to figure out where I’m hiding Sherry, and whether or not they can kill me before I turn her over to some radical enemy group. Roger was right, I’d never do that, but over the years I’ve developed a reputation with the government that leads them to believe there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do.

45.

In the end, I don’t get everything I want, but I do get Rachel back.

In six months.

Roger was right about Uncle Sam wanting at least a dozen embryos, and for some reason, they didn’t trust me to deliver the balance of them. I agreed to let them harvest all the eggs they can for the next six months, and that should give them enough to work with. In the meantime, I’m certain a genius like Sam could cut the ten-year time table for creating the synthetic gene to two or three. He’ll have the built in motivation of wanting to escape from the hole. Six hundred thousand square feet of living space will seem awfully small after a few years of living with his mother-in-law!

That’s the other part I didn’t get in the bargain. They refuse to hold Sam against his will for the rest of his life. They also refuse to deny him access to Rachel, which is the part that upsets me the most. But they do allow me to call her once a week, to keep her spirits lifted.

The first time I called she said, “I have no idea who you are.” Then she hung up. The next week she said, “I was just kidding.” Then she hung up. I can’t wait to hear what she says next week when I call. But that’s Rachel, ever unpredictable, still keeping me off my game.

46.

I’m not thrilled about what’s going on in Area B, but I’m glad to know dedicated scientists like Roger are working day and night to protect the world from the Spanish Flu. I hate to wait six months to hold Rachel in my arms, but I know the government will take good care of her. I expect they’ll even provide a qualified therapist to work on her mental health.

The six months gives Sherry plenty of time to get better, too. I’m pretty sure Rachel will be upset when she learns I stuck her mother in the hole for however many years she’ll have to stay there, but she won’t know about it until Sam gets out and tells her. By then, maybe her mother will also be released, and she’ll be clean and sober to boot. Rachel might end up having a relationship with her mother after all, in which case I could come out of this whole situation smelling like a rose.