CHAPTER 26: TWO RICHARDS
The military ships surrounded the submarine.
The radio repeated the order.
“This is Richard Vale, chairman of Vale Industries.”
Claire looked toward Richard standing beside her.
“Who is speaking?”
He shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
A video signal appeared.
Richard’s face filled the screen.
The man sat inside Vale headquarters wearing a dark suit.
A news banner identified him as the real Richard Vale.
He announced the man traveling with Claire was an escaped Project Janus subject.
The Richard beside Claire stared at the screen.
“He is using my identity.”
Claire Vale aimed her pistol at him.
“How do we know you aren’t using his?”
Richard touched the scar above his right eyebrow.
“The scars mean nothing. They can be created.”
Claire felt the truth settle over them.
There was no simple test.
Memories could be copied.
Faces could be changed.
DNA could be recreated.
Richard looked toward Claire.
“When you were five, you broke your mother’s music box.”
“I don’t remember that.”
“You hid the pieces beneath the nursery bed.”
Claire shook her head.
“That could be an implanted memory.”
His face fell.
Everything that might have proven love had been turned into evidence of manipulation.
The military ships began firing warning shots.
The submarine captain said they had five minutes before being boarded.
Helena studied the copied master-core files.
“There may be a biological marker August couldn’t duplicate.”
“Where?” Claire asked.
“Inside the original memory record Dr. Voss gave us.”
“The box exploded.”
“No. Marcus replaced it before we entered the estate.”
Everyone turned toward Marcus.
He reached inside his coat and removed the black box.
Claire stared at him.
“You had it this entire time?”
“I didn’t know who to trust.”
Claire Vale pointed her gun at him.
“That answer is becoming exhausting.”
The box activated.
Helena’s recorded voice began speaking.
“The true Richard Vale has a congenital defect in the fourth chamber of his heart.”
Richard placed a hand against his chest.
He knew.
“The copy will not.”
The submarine had a medical scanner.
Richard entered.
The results appeared.
No congenital defect.
Claire stepped backward.
“You’re not Richard.”
He looked at the scan.
His face emptied.
“I remember the surgery.”
“Because they gave you his memories.”
The military ships demanded surrender.
The copy Richard sank into a chair.
“Then who am I?”
Helena looked at him.
“R-3.”
A replacement Richard created twenty years earlier.
Claire thought about every moment since the ballroom.
The man who had called her daughter.
Protected her.
Risked his life.
His memories were copied.
But his choices had been real.
She placed a hand on his shoulder.
“You are the man who came for me.”
Claire Vale lowered her weapon.
The radio activated again.
The Richard at Vale headquarters smiled.
“How touching.”
Then he gave the order.
May you like
“Fire.”
A torpedo entered the water.
