Cloud Invasion: R-D 2 (R-D #2)(5)

"Just got a bad one, I guess-hardly anybody else has used theirs, but she had it turned on this morning and it just went out. She changed the bulb, but that wasn't the problem."

"Was she writing when it blew?"

"Of course. Rafe said she sneaked out of bed, went into her office next to their bedroom and sat down at the computer without waking him. She was writing when he got up an hour later. Here are those photographs you gave her, with notes," he handed a tablet to me.

"She got those done, too?" I scrolled through the photographs, reading the short blurbs she'd sent. Several had crimes listed beneath the photographs; a few had lists of evidence to gather to prove their guilt. None of them were clones-at least she hadn't identified them as such.

Two of them were members of Congress. I was least surprised about them and gave a snort when I read their information. Their crimes were of the white-collar variety, and I wondered if Madam President would even bother to investigate.

"Nothing about the enemy," I said. "Dr. Farrell says the autopsy on the lizard woman makes for interesting reading. He's forwarding that information to us later today."

"Did he give you anything at all about her?" James asked.

"He says the DNA shows she's mostly humanoid, but he's still trying to get a lock on the rest of it."

"How can that happen?" James asked, his mouth settling into a puzzled frown. "Gene splicing?"

"I don't think that's it," I said. "He and I have a guess, but we can't prove anything at this point."

What I didn't tell James was that I knew significantly more about the Program now than I did a month ago. Farrell and I'd had several discussions, and the more I learned, the more it concerned me.

I felt we were lucky that Corinne survived a second round of the drug. It had never been attempted twice on anyone else, because the death toll on the first round was much too high. Actually, where she was concerned, I considered that we'd hit the drug lottery twice and didn't want to jinx it by discussing her survival.

Conversations with Farrell and his medical team were ongoing, too, about the clones. How they were made, how quickly they were made-we had too many questions and too few answers where those were concerned.

We'd done autopsies on the Becker clones, first. They'd all been identical to him in every way. Farrell had some theories, but without testing them, we couldn't be sure.

A research lab for our new location was in the process of being built. The moment it became operational, Farrell and his team would move in. I considered that I might have to put a rush on the windows-we needed natural sunlight.

"James, what about a patio or outside garden?" I asked.

He blinked at me-I'd gone from one subject straight into another, which made absolutely no sense.

"You mean, build that while they're cutting windows?"

"Yes. We can camouflage it with plants, trees and such. We can't open the windows they'll build. This will allow us outside air every day."

"I'll ask the engineers to draw up plans."

"Have them design it so the audio and video can be easily turned off and on."

"Will do. Anticipating private conversations?"

"Don't you think we need someplace for that?"

"Probably." He reached for his phone.

"Good. Keep me informed; I have a call with the President this morning, to discuss this." I held the tablet aloft.

"I'll see that you're not disturbed, Colonel."

"If Corinne or Rafe decide to disturb me, send them in. The President wants to speak with them, too. Eventually."

"Yes, sir."

*

Corinne

Our suite was three thousand square feet and included my office, a study for Rafe, a huge bedroom, a kitchen and a dining area. The dining area included a long table with seating for eight. I imagined Auggie had been instrumental in arranging that.

We had plenty of storage, plus an extra bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen was everything Rafe and I could want, with a huge island and six barstools lined up along one side.

"Only oatmeal?" Rafe lifted an eyebrow at me. We'd made eggs, sausage and toast for him, but I'd made a small portion of oatmeal for myself.

"It's all I want," I shrugged. "I'll ask James if he can order protein shakes for me."

I knew we had the bugs turned on in our suite when James arrived ten minutes later to help himself to leftover eggs and sausage while I made fresh toast for him.

He used his tablet to order bottles of protein drink for me in several flavors while he ate. "Want more OJ?" I lifted the bottle in James' direction.

"Just coffee," he said. I made a fresh cup and set it at his elbow.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm better than I was yesterday. Thanks for getting me a new sunlamp, by the way. I'll try not to break this one."

"How soon can we make arrangements to go to Seattle?" Rafe asked. "I owe my cabbage dinner," he added, coming to a stop behind me and kissing the top of my head.

"Can I come?" James asked hopefully.

"Of course, if it will mean one less guard, no matter how discreet," Rafe grinned. "We much prefer your company."