Page 22 of Brax

“Gentlemen, Mrs. Carter will see you in the library.”

“Thank you,” said Joseph, following the big man in front of them. And he was big. Bigger than the three of them and every bit as wide as Tailor or Alec.

“Mrs. Carter, the gentlemen that called earlier are here.”

“Ah, wonderful,” she said, standing from her desk.

She was a woman easily in her fifties, her hair cut short, styled in a way that flattered her fine features. She’d had at least a few injections, probably more, but nothing that was so severe you were appalled by it.

“Mrs. Carter, thank you for seeing us,” said Carl.

“It’s not a problem. No one has ever asked me about my father or his research. I have the feeling it was quite taboo.”

“Why do you say that?” asked Joseph.

“My father was attempting to clone children long before Dolly the sheep,” she smirked. “I have no idea where these children came from or what their background was, but I know that they suffered.”

“Were you there?” asked Carl.

“No. No, I was sent to live with my grandmother and my mother’s sister and her husband. I was raised as their daughter. I had a wonderful life and didn’t really know much about my father.”

“And your mother?” asked Kiel.

“My mother died giving birth to my sister,” she said sadly.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright. I don’t remember her at all. My aunt used to say that she thought my father was trying to bring my mother back to life. I don’t know how that would have been possible since I was the only living relative of my mother’s, and he never once touched me or took blood, tissue, or DNA samples. My aunt was adopted so she wasn’t a viable candidate.”

“Sometimes, we reach for the obvious,” said Carl.

“Yes, well, I don’t really know what’s obvious or not. Set those on the table, please,” she said to the two men carrying the massive trunks. “Those are filled with all of my father’s notes. This was long before things were kept digitally. He wouldn’t have believed in that anyway. I’ve never opened those trunks. Not once.”

“Not something you’re interested in?” asked Carl.

“I’m interested but also afraid. I don’t want to find out that my father is the monster everyone said he was. I don’t remember much about him, but he was kind to me and a good father. I’d like to keep it that way if you don’t mind.”

“We understand. May we take those with us?” asked Joseph.

“I’d rather you not,” she said. “I know I’m asking a lot of you, but I’ve arranged for you to have rooms in the east wing. You can stay a week, then my husband and I leave for Italy for a month. Make all the copies, all the notes you want, but you cannot leave with those journals.” Carl stared at the two men and nodded.

“Wait, can we ask one more person to come?” asked Joseph. “He’s another member of our team, but his brain might understand this better than we can.”

“Of course,” she said, walking toward the entryway. “I’ll arrange for another room and send someone in with food for you. If you need anything else, just ask Bruno.”

“Bruno?” frowned Kiel.

“My personal bodyguard that escorted you in,” she smiled. “He’s really quite sweet, but I’m not supposed to tell anyone that.”

Two hours later, Thomas was seated beside them sifting through the stacks and stacks of journals and loose notes.

“I’m not sure I was the right person to review this,” he said, shaking his head. “Maybe Regan should have come.”

“No, we think you’ll understand this better than Regan. He’d be able to catalog it in his head, but we need someone to understand what they’re looking at. You’re the genius, Thomas. Just tell us what you need from us.”

“I’m looking for anything where a cloning was done but didn’t work. Anything that mentions names of potential successful clones. And, if we’re really lucky, how he did it.”

After several pots of coffee and more than twenty-three hours of not moving from the table except to use the bathroom, the men were becoming exhausted. If they thought something was valuable, they would stack it near Thomas and move on. But there was so much it was difficult to determine what was worth looking at.

---