Generation 18 (Spook Squad 2)

“I prefer to give the situation more time.” Stephan crossed his arms and leaned forward. “However, I do have another option that might suit us both.”

Sam met his gaze. His blue eyes were sharp, full of cunning and intelligence. Stephan was a shark by nature—and this was the reason he, rather than his twin, Gabriel, ruled the SIU and the Federation.

Of course, that also meant she was beating her head against a brick wall where Gabriel was concerned, because Stephan was always going to look after his twin’s interests first. Even if said twin didn’t appreciate his efforts any more than Sam did.

She came to a stop in front of his desk and couldn’t help feeling like a fish about to be hooked. “What might that be?”

“You remember Dan Wetherton?”

She nodded. “Last I heard, no one was sure if the body Gabriel found was the real Wetherton or a clone.”

“Well, as it happens, it was the original.”

Sam snagged the nearest chair and sat down, interested despite her wariness. “Gabriel and I theorized about the possibility of whole brain transplants making clones a viable replacement option, but officially—as far as I’m aware—it’s still considered impossible to create a clone that exactly duplicates the mannerisms and thoughts of the original person. They may be genetically identical, but they are nevertheless different.” She hesitated, frowning. “Besides, I read the in-house reports and tests done on the living Wetherton. He was declared human in all scientific results.”

“And a clone isn’t?”

She grimaced. Clones were human, no doubt about that. But whether that actually granted them humanity was a point of contention between the scientists and the theologists. “Having only met one clone, who was trying to kill me at the time, I don’t feel qualified to answer that particular question.”

Amusement touched the corners of Stephan’s thin lips. “As it happens, the test results were altered by a party or parties unknown long before we got them.” He picked up a folder from his desk and offered it to her. “These are the originals. Have a look.”

From past experience she knew that it was pointless to ask how he’d gotten hold of the original papers. Stephan worked on a need-to-know basis—and generally, that meant the less everyone knew, the better. She doubted even Gabriel was privy to all his secrets.

Not that Gabriel himself was particularly open. Not with her, anyway.

She leafed through the information inside the folder. It included the genetic tests on both Wetherton and the clone, the coroner’s report and Wetherton’s medical history.

“Wetherton had cancer,” she said, looking up. “Incurable.”

“Which the current version no longer has.”

She threw the folder back on the desk. “If you know he’s not the original, why not simply kill him?”

“Because we wanted to know why he was cloned. And where.”

“But not who had cloned him?” Did that mean they suspected the mysterious Sethanon was behind it all?

“As I said, we don’t know the where and the why. But there is only one suspect for the who.”

“But the military is experimenting with genetics. There’s no reason why Wetherton can’t be their boy.”

“No, there’s not.”

His tone seemed to dismiss her speculation, and yet she had a vague notion that she’d hit upon the very issue that was troubling Stephan. Only, for some weird reason, he didn’t want to acknowledge it. “And what about the replacement parts industry? Have you checked to see if they have started developing fully formed beings, or is that just too obvious?”

His expression became briefly annoyed. “We never overlook the obvious.”

Of course not. She smiled slightly. Irritating Stephan might be akin to prodding a lion with a very short stick, but when she got even the slightest reaction, it was oddly satisfying.

“The black-market trade in cloned parts is booming,” she said. Of course, it was fueled mainly by humanity’s desperation to cheat death. An incredible number of people seemed willing to pay exorbitant prices to grow new body parts, so why not take it a step further, and attempt a cloning miracle? Not just a replacement heart or liver or whatever other part had failed, but a whole new body?

But humanity was more than just a brain; it was also a heart and soul. Medical science might be able to transfer flesh and brain matter, but how could anyone transfer a soul? Even if they could pin down what a soul actually was?

Not that rules ever stopped anyone—especially when there was huge money to be made.

And somewhere along the line, someone had succeeded in achieving at least part of the impossible—fully fleshed, viable clones who looked and acted like the original. Wetherton, and her ex-partner, Jack Kazdan, were proof of that. Although something had gone wrong with Jack’s clone; it might have looked like him, but it had had serious problems speaking. But then, it had been given a shitload of growth accelerant, so it wasn’t truly a surprise that it couldn’t speak well. It had never really had the time to learn.

“His source is not black market. We’re sure of that.”