“You probably don’t realize this,” Jonah explained to Henry as they drove, “But cloning people is technically illegal in the United States. Ethics and morals are ambiguous enough when you’re doing it with animals, but with people it gets that much harder. The very act that you agreed to serve as a DNA host makes you an accomplice.”
Henry’s face drained of blood. “An accomplice to murder?” he asked weakly. “Would I go to jail for that?” he wondered. He didn’t know for sure. Now he wished he’d watched those judge shows, so at least he’d have a clue about the law.
“Hard to say,” Jonah answered. “There’s no precedent for this. One could argue that as you’re all exactly the same, you’re all just as culpable.”
“But we’re not the same!” Henry protested. “I could never murder anyone!”
“From a forensics perspective,” Jonah continued, “It would be impossible to distinguish you all. Did they tag the clones with some kind of ID? Like a tattoo or marker to tell each other apart?”
“I don’t think so,” Henry confessed. He began to imagine what life would be like in prison.
Jonah reached onto the dash and pulled out a small recorder. He flipped it on. “Tell me everything Henry,” he commanded.
Henry told Jonah about the day he signed the papers, the lab tests, meeting #2, and then going through all of the different jobs day after day. Jonah nodded periodically, but did not interrupt with questions until Henry finished.
“…And then Jonathan drove me to the motel where you found me,” Henry finished. “By the way, how did you find me? Jonathan drove pretty crazy to make sure no one was following him.”
“I know,” Jonah sighed. “We put a tracking device on his car months ago when we realized how much of a mover and a shaker he was within the company. I kept about a mile back and waited whenever he did one of his crazy maneuvers. It was more annoying than anything else.”
“It was nice of him to hide me while he figured out who really did this and keep me out of trouble,” Henry confessed with a smile.
Jonah turned with that same eerie stare. “Is that what he told you?” Jonah asked. Henry nodded.
Jonah shook his head. “Henry,” Jonah clarified. “Jonathan set you up.”
“But,” Henry protested. “He wouldn’t do that-“
“Think about it Henry,” Jonah explained. “He’s got a couple dozen contraband clones concealed in the back building and needs to buy time to keep the police from discovering them, especially as one of them is a killer. What he needs is for the police to find the fugitive hiding out in a small motel on the edge of the county. It’ll look like a hate crime where the person acted alone in a fit of fury and then ran and hid.”
“But why would he drive me all the way out there?” Henry asked.
“It would look pretty strange for the killer to walk into work just after committing a murder as if nothing had happened,” Jonah mused. “It would be enough to question the person’s sanity, causing them to probe deeper and investigate claims of cloning more thoroughly. Finding you hiding out in a seedy motel wrecks your credibility as it’s the action a sane person would do after committing murder. Claims of cloning would be dismissed as panicked excuses to try and place blame on anyone else but yourself.”
Henry rubbed his head. He hated how complicated his life had become. He wanted it to be simple again.
Jonah slowed down and pulled into the Privex parking lot. “Let me do the talking,” Jonah started, but did not finish the thought. Instead of several police cars, there was now a SWAT truck and several men suiting up in full body armor. One of them waived Jonah over, who drove up and rolled down his window.
“What’s going on?” Jonah asked.
“Shots fired as a uniform tried to enter the restricted second building. Took a hit to the shoulder. They pulled back and evacuated the first building, called us.”
“How’s our man doing?” Jonah asked seriously.
“Not great, but not bad either,” the armored man replied. “He lost a lot of blood but the bullet didn’t do much damage. I think he’ll be alright in a month or so.”
His radio crackled to life. “Get ready!” the order came. The armored man leaned down to look at Jonah and his passenger. “You all better hang back,” he stated dryly. “This could get real ugly real quick.”
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