Origin in Death (In Death 21)

"Placement. He called it placement, yes. Made-to-order generated * great deal of money. It required a great deal of money to continue the project."

"Were all the . . . the base for the project... all from the wars? Eve asked.

"Children, some adults who were mortally injured. Other doctors, scientists, technicians, LCs, teachers."

"All female."

"That we know of."

"Did you ever ask to leave? The school?"

"To go where, and to what? We were taught and trained and tested every day, all of our lives. We were given a purpose. Every minute was regimented and monitored. Even what was called our free time. We're imprinted to be, to do, to know, to act, to think."

"If so, how do you kill that which made you?"

"Because we were imprinted to love our children. We would have lived as they'd wanted us to live, if they'd left our children alone. Do you want a sacrifice, Lieutenant Dallas? Choose any one of us, and that one will confess to it all."

They linked hands again. "That one will go to prison for the rest of our lives, if the other two are free to go, to take the children away where they'll never be touched or observed. Where they'll never have to be stared at, pointed out. Be objects of fear or fascination. Aren't you afraid of us, of what we are?"

&nb

sp; "No." Eve got to her feet. "And I'm not looking for sacrifices, either. We're breaking from interview at this time. Please remain here. Peabody, with me."

She went through the door, secured it, then went straight into the observation area. Reo was already on the 'link, having an avid conver­sation in undertones.

"They'd know Deena Flavia's location," Whitney said.

"Yes, sir. They know where she is, or how to find her. Certainly they have contact information. I can separate them again, go at them indi­vidually. With the confession on record, I can get a warrant to have them tested, find out which, if any, is pregnant. If so, that one would be the most vulnerable. Peabody could soft-pedal with them, one on one. She's good at it. Next hit is to push on locations for the labs specifically used for the project, where they've put whatever data they've already taken, and who, if anyone, is on Deena's termination list. They're not done. They haven't accomplished everything they were after, and they're oriented to succeed."

She glanced at Mira for confirmation.

"I agree. At this point they're giving you what they want you to have. They want your help in shutting this down, and your sympathy. They want you to know why they did what they did, and why they're willing to sacrifice themselves for it. You won't break them."

Eve lifted her eyebrows. "Want to put money on it?"

"It has nothing to do with your interview skills. They are the same person. Their life experiences are so minutely different it barely regis­ters. They were created to be the same, then trained and given a rou­tine that ensured they would be the same."

"One hand held the knife."

"You're being literal," Mira said impatiently. "In a very real sense, that one hand belonged to all of them."

"They can all be charged," Tibble pointed out. "Conspiracy to mur­der. First degree."

"Never get to trial." Reo shut her 'link. "My boss and I are in agree­ment on this. With what we just heard in there, what we know, we'd never get this to stick. Any defense would whoop our asses long before we got to a murder trail. Frankly, I'd like to defend them myself. Not only a slam dunk, but I'd be rich and famous by the end of it."

"So they walk?" Eve demanded.

"You try to charge them, the media's going to chew it bloody. Hu­man rights groups are going to get in on it, and in five short minutes, we'll have the newly formed Clone Rights organizations. You get them to lead you to Deena, that's chummy, Dallas. I'd like to hear her story. And maybe, if there's only one of her, we manage to cut some deal. But with these?"

She gestured toward the glass, and the three women at the table. "You've got enforced imprisonment, brainwashing, diminished capac­ity, child endangerment. And if I were going to bat for them, pure old self-defense. I'd make it work, too. There's no way to win this."

"Three people are dead."

"Three people," Reo reminded her, "who conspired to break inter­national laws, and who broke said laws for decades. Who, if you're get­ting the truth in there, created life, then terminated those lives if they didn't meet certain standards. Who created that which killed them. They're smart."

She walked closer to the glass. "Did you hear what they said? 'We were imprinted to be, do, feel,' and so on. That's a strong, impenetra­ble line of defense. Because they were created and engineered and imprinted. They acted as they'd been programmed to react. They defended their children against what many will see as a nightmare.'

"Get what you can out of them," Tibble ordered. "Get Deena Flavia, get locations. Get details."