Page 38 of Saint

“Late? Mr. Robicheaux, you are a bad boy.”

“Yep. Let’s go, Mrs. Robicheaux. I’ll show you how bad I can really be.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

“So, that’s it?” asked Misha.

“That’s it,” smiled Saint. “We really appreciate your help with this. You might want to change your hairstyle or color over the next few days just to avoid being confused for this person.”

“That’s a good idea,” she nodded. “Well, I’ve always wanted to be a redhead. Maybe now is the time. I can pretend to live the life of a spy.” She laughed, pulling her silk scarf around her face and batting her eyes. The men all laughed, shaking their heads.

“Be careful what you wish for,” said Eric. “Misha, if you see Michelle, if she comes near you, get help right away. This phone number will come directly to our emergency line, and we’ll get someone out to you if needed.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” she smiled. “Although I didn’t get my famous Brennan’s gumbo.”

“I have a to-go bag for you, madam. So sorry about all the confusion,” said the waiter.

“It’s alright,” she laughed. “As a third-grade teacher, this is the most excitement I’ve ever had.” She turned and waved at the men as she made her way toward the hotel where she was to meet her friends. Their boat would leave later this evening, heading back up the Mississippi.

“That was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” said Saint. “That woman was identical to Michelle.”

“She’s a clone, Saint,” laughed Eric. “Michelle is identical to her. Except her mind, obviously. It does make a bit more sense now, though. Misha is a normal, intelligent woman who became a teacher. There was nothing genius about her. When they created Michelle, they enhanced everything on her that they could. With that kind of science, you’re bound to make mistakes.”

“Well, that woman is definitely a big mistake. She’s going to lose her mind when she sees these videos,” said Saint. Eric nodded, slapping his back.

“Then let’s get these back to the boys in comms, clean them up, and get them out to the world. It’s time for us to have some fun.”

“I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong,” said Marilisa, staring at the device on the table and back at the schematics. Stephanie looked at it and shook her head.

“I’m not sure either,” she said. “This should be able to scan the entire body for the radioactive particles, and yet we’re not getting any hits back on the data.”

“Why?” The two women turned to smile at Suzette, who was smiling back at them.

“Why? Because we need the device to do that,” said Marilisa.

“No, you don’t,” said Suzette. “The particles are not throughout the body. They’re only in the brain. If you can get the device to scan just the head of the body, you’ll be golden.”

“The head! Oh, my God! We just need it to scan the head,” said Marilisa. “It’s so obvious!”

“That’s what I specialize in,” laughed Suzette. “The obvious.” The women hugged her, grateful for the insight, and immediately went back to work on the device.

They were working so hard they didn’t even notice how late it had become. Doug and Ryan walked toward them, spinning their index finger, indicating it was time to wrap up.

“We’re coming,” said Stephanie. “In fact, we’re finished. We can re-launch the device tomorrow.”

“You’ve completed it?” asked Ryan.

“Yes!” they said in unison.

“Tomorrow, we can duplicate the device data and send it to the drones already active, attach them to the new drones, and send them out all over the country, heck, even the world. We’ll be able to pick up on any radioactive particles in the red-blue realm and further investigate the individuals as possibilities.”

“Well done,” smiled Doug.

“We can thank Suzette for the help,” said Stephanie. “We were beating our heads against the wall trying to figure out how we get the device to scan the body.”

“How did you make it work?” asked Ryan.

“We didn’t,” laughed Marilisa. Doug and Ryan stared at the two women as if they were crazy. “We didn’t need to scan the whole body, only the head. The particles are in the brain only.”

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