Page 43 of Saint

“You! You see him, right?”

“See who? Are you crazy, Michelle?” asked Saint.

“Wh-who are you two? Why are you here? How is he here?” she yelled at them.

“I don’t know who you’re talking about,” said Brax, slowly circling the woman, ensuring that she had no weapons.

“Don’t worry. She had one gun, but I emptied the chamber,” said Griffin. “There was a knife, but she didn’t grab that. Maybe she’s not comfortable with knives.”

“This is madness. It’s a hologram. You lived somehow, and this is a hologram!”

“I’m no hologram. You killed me, and you’re going to pay for it,” said Griffin. “You’re going to pay for killing my brother.”

“The bear killed your brother,” she said, shaking her head. “He was trained. I didn’t train him.”

“You killed my brother.”

“Did you know that you’re a clone?” asked Saint. She turned swiftly, staring at the men. “You didn’t know.”

“I’m not a clone.”

“You are. The original you is quite lovely. A schoolteacher who is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. She’s not a psychopath with delusions of power.”

“No. No, I was raised alone with my parents,” she said.

“No. You were raised in a lab along with your parents and some other people who saw to your education. But you’re not the real deal,” said Brax, swallowing the bile rising in his throat. He would never say such a thing to Stephanie. Or did he?

“You’re the ones who are mad. Not me. You!”

“You can’t live, Michelle. You’ve caused too many problems, risked too many lives. We’re going to have to end things for you,” said Saint.

She was backing up toward the deck of the beach house. It was a significant drop to the rocks below and the beach beyond, but if she jumped carefully, she could make a run for it.

“No. You won’t kill me. You won’t kill a woman.”

“They won’t. But I will,” said Griffin. “I’m a dead man. How would anyone be able to pin a death on a dead man? And more importantly, why would anyone care?”

Griffin began moving closer and closer to her and then let out a banshee-like scream, forcing her to cover her ears as he shoved her over the edge of the deck and to the rocks below.

Landing with a sickening thud and snap, Saint and Brax stared at the mangled body. She was still breathing. Barely. Suddenly, Griffin was standing over her, whispering to her as her eyes bulged.

“You didn’t know that our daughter was the engineer, did you? No. You didn’t know, and you wouldn’t have cared. She’s beautiful and perfect, and she’ll be married soon. You won’t live to see it. But I will. By the grace of a man who is far too good to be near you, I will see it.”

“C-crazy,” she gasped.

Placing his knee on her forehead, he pressed down and heard her neck snap. No one would suspect anything except a fall.

The only thing that mattered was that Michelle Fryar was dead.

As the others started to enter the home, they searched for electronics, documents, anything that might have information pertaining to the radioactive particles and the people exposed.

“I found it,” said Trevor, walking out with a large paper file. “It’s got almost all of the information in paper format.”

“I found two laptops,” said Bogey, nodding at his son. “I think you’re going to find everything that she possessed on these.”

“Good work,” said Eric. “Get everything outside to the vehicles, and we’ll get back to the plane. Saint? Burn it to the ground. Leave her body at the bottom of the deck but burn the house down.”

Saint nodded, grabbing several cans of gasoline from the garage, as well as some lighter fluid and barbecue starter. The place would be torched. Burned to the ground.

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