Page 49 of Maverick

“That sounds so crass,” he smirked. “I suppose we did buy some, but believe me, many of you were quite inexpensive. You, for instance.”

“What about me?” she asked, her tears hidden behind her sunglasses.

“Your mother was alone, fifteen, and terrified. She was more than willing to give her child to a group of people willing to give that child a better life. A fine private school, just for girls where her daughter would be given many opportunities for success. It was a young girl’s dream. Of course, she didn’t know that the man we sent to impregnate her was one of our own.” Katelyn started to open her mouth, and he held a hand up.

“They’re both dead, my dear. Your father died in the line of service to the cause. Your mother had an unfortunate accident after your birth. These things happen sometimes.”

“And the injections in our brains? What about those?”

“My, my, you’ve learned a great deal, haven’t you? The injections were mass amounts of certain proteins that were thought to increase brain function. We could never prove that it actually worked, but you were all quite capable and bright on your own. If you weren’t, well, we relocated those children.”

“Relocated. You mean you sold them.”

“Some,” he nodded. “Others were simply never going to be productive in society, and still others were released to find their own way.”

“You abused us. All of us. You played mind games and tortured us. Drugged us to the point of incomprehension. Then you decided to play God and determine our fate of life or death, all because we didn’t meet your expectations.”

“It’s the way it’s always been done, Katelyn.”

“How did you clone the girl?” she asked.

“My, my,” he said, leaning back and staring at her. “How did you know about her? Never mind. We knew that she wasn’t going to meet our needs. We tried to duplicate the process over and over again to dreadful results. Children born, shall we say, not quite whole. You know how it is when you make a copy of something on a bad copier. Everything is blurry. That’s how her duplicates came out.

“She was a feisty one. Always fighting us, so when she escaped during the clearing of the house, we just let her go. You see, we’d placed her on a medication that would eventually kill her. Slowly, over time, with massive seizures. By now, she’s most assuredly dead. No one could survive that. The cloning itself was actually quite simple. An egg, DNA, sperm, mix it all together, and voila! She was cloned after a former genius student who tragically leaped to her death.”

“It’s not that simple. Nothing is that simple. Where are the other children? Where are the children that were sold or moved?”

“Some died my dear, just a side effect of the work we do. Others were able to escape their captors. That’s what we get for using smart children. We found a few over the years and returned them, but most didn’t survive what they were asked to do.”

“And what were they asked to do?” she whispered.

“Why replicate their genius, of course,” he smiled.

“Where were the boys kept?”

“Not far from all of you,” he said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “There were fewer boys. The problem with young men is that they grow to be strong, headstrong young men. Many were able to overpower the guards. We stopped having the boys much earlier than we closed the girls’ school.”

“And the chimps? The gorilla, the alligator, what about them?” He burst into laughter, shaking his head.

“I have completely underestimated you, Katelyn,” he chuckled. “You really are a genius. Or did your good friends at G.R.I.P. help you with all of that?”

“I do alright on my own,” she said with a straight face.

“The animals were necessary to find the right mix of proteins to be injected into the brains. They were just animals. Nothing special.”

“Nothing special? Is that what you said about the kids, too? We were all special. We are all special. We are unique, wonderful, and talented. And. Alive.” She emphasized, gritting her teeth.

“Get up, Kaitlyn.”

“No.” He turned and lifted the duck shirt, and she saw the weapon.

“Get up, or I start killing kids. That seems to be a soft spot for you, so I’m sure you don’t want to see that happen. Get up, and we’re going to take a drive. My plans for you have changed.”

Katelyn stood and heard the whispers in her ear. She knew that they would never allow him to harm innocent civilians, or her.

“Where are we going?” she asked calmly.

“I’ve suddenly found myself very attracted to you,” he said, gripping her arm. Several children ran toward them, running circles around them as they played a game of tag. “I hate children.”

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