Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty

     “It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen. It was like it all came from a science fiction movie,” a woman’s voice said in a black screen.

     “What you are about to see may disturb you,” another woman’s voice said in a voiceover. “In the days following the attack from North Korea they marched through the streets of Manhattan and a number of other cities. We have footage that was captured by Rita Martinez who was in hiding as they picked at the corpses on the streets. As Americans are in Russia determining if teenage militants are our clones we have additional reports here to further confirm that they were in fact cloned from our DNA. Stay tuned for the witness accounts of when North Korea briefly invaded our country.”

     Matthew aimed his remote at the TV and turned it off. There was a sigh of relief from the instant silence in the dining room. The table was covered in papers, maps, and laptop computers.

     “Not sure if they are trying to fuel our anger at Wolfe, North Korea, or those orphaned children that we may end up rehoming,” said Matthew.

     “Well, we just have more reason for our mission,” said Janice.

     Olive entered the dining room with Corby. Matthew stood and shook his hand. Corby glanced at the group of people and the items on the table.

     “I’m glad that you were able to make it,” said Matthew.

     “So, what is it that you plan on doing?” asked Corby.

     “Right now, we are searching for the whereabouts of President Wolfe,” said Janice.

     “Then what?” he inquired.

     “Teach him a lesson,” someone said.

     “Maybe give him a good scare,” Janice corrected him.

     “Lynch him!” the person continued.

     “Bob!” Janice yelled at him.

     “Well, something has to be done. I’m sick of him being president,” Bob argued.

     “We don’t want to kill anyone,” she told him. She turned to Corby, “If we are to remove him from the office we need to find where he is.”

     “He’s going to have to be charged with a war crime,” said Bob. “I would almost say that he should be fined for violating HIPAA law, but that would only be a slap on the wrist.”

     “Violating voter rights,” Matthew added.

     “How?” asked Corby.

     “I already filled you in on the details,” said Olive. “Prescriptions and medical history are being used against us to revoke our voting rights.”

     “He’s been in the office for this long,” Corby muttered.

     “He’s out served his term,” said Janice. “How much longer do you want to tolerate this maniac acting as our president? If he is dictating from another country he definitely should not be the president.”

     “I’m against them violating my privacy,” stated Corby. “What difference does it make? We haven’t been able to vote for a new president in years.”

     “That is the exact opinion that has made it possible for him to be president for so long,” Olive pointed out.

     “I want our government back,” said Matthew. “The only way to restore what we have lost is to get him out of office and bring everyone justice.”

     “Won’t this get you into trouble?” asked Corby.

     “We are already in trouble for saying anything negative about Wolfe,” said Janice. “Do you understand? We had rights to speech and voting and we do not seem to have those rights anymore.”

     “Well, I’m not comfortable with this and I don’t want to participate,” said Corby.

     “Why the sudden change of heart?” asked Olive.

     “It doesn’t sound like you have a plan,” said Corby. “Politicians don’t even know where he is. How do you expect to locate him? With conspiracy theories?”

     “We do have a plan,” said Matthew. “I’m not sure who can be trusted with this information. For now, we are trying to locate him and getting down to resolving what happened to us and rebuild.”

     “I have to think about this,” said Corby. “I’m going home.”

     Everyone looked at each other with concern. He could foil their plans, but Matthew allowed him to leave. Janice followed Corby to the front door.

     In almost an instant, Janice and Corby returned to the dining room. Their face was as white as a ghost. An older gentleman entered the dining room after them.

     Everyone looked at him wondering what was happening. The man flashed a badge. Everyone froze in place.

     “My name is Thomas Rasphoumy and I am with the secret service,” the man said and he put his badge away.

     “What brings you here?” asked Matthew.

     “Intelligence has discovered that this location has been searching through government databases for information about Wolfe,” Thomas said.

     “Why is a secret service agent here instead of homeland security?” asked Matthew.

     Thomas nodded his head, “I was sent here because hackers have acquired information that there is an underground group planning an uprising. Both people within the government and people overseas have taken interest in your cause.”

     “How would the hackers know anything?” asked Janice. “We are not even an online group. Why would anyone in the government be interested in our cause?”

     “People like hackers and intelligence can see that you are looking for the whereabouts of Wolfe,” he said. “There was a recent meeting with a former politician named Dr. Simplot. The government is aware of his opinion of Wolfe and why he resigned. One of you reached out to him from here. There are people in the government who have suffered just like you who want to participate in your cause.”

     “How does this even involve someone from the secret service?” asked Matthew.

     “It doesn’t,” said Thomas.

     Matthew smirked, “I don’t even understand. Why are you even here?”

     “I was in the secret service when we were bombed,” he said. “You know how Russia found those teens? One of the teens was cloned from my sister’s DNA.”

     “Do you actually think that we will actually buy this crap?” asked Bob.

     “He’s trying to trick us!” someone else said.

     “I was just over there to take a DNA test,” Thomas took out his cell phone. “The tests confirmed that one is genetically connected to me. I don’t know if you saw the press conference, but here is a picture of my sister and me. The clone that was at the press conference looks just like her.”

     He handed his phone to Matthew. There was a picture of Thomas when he was younger standing with his sister. Thomas touched the screen. A new picture appeared of him and what appeared to be his sister, but she was younger.

     “That’s crazy,” said Matthew.

     Everyone in the room gathered to view the pictures. There were a couple of gasps of wonder and a couple of others whispered. Matthew gave Thomas his phone back.

     “I mailed in a DNA test,” said Janice. “I have yet to hear from them. How come you have your results so early?”

     “They received thousands of submissions. I traveled to Russia for the test since there was such a long wait time,” he said. “I received my results within a couple of hours. They are working as fast as they can on the results that have been sent to them from here.”

     Matthew looked at him with suspicion, “So, what does that have to do with you being here?”

     Thomas smiled and nodded, “Do you know about the clone that was at the press conference? Her name is Sky. She was one of the clones who planned and carried out the nuclear attack on North Korea.”

     “North Korea was attacked?” someone asked as everyone shushed him.

     “When I went to do my DNA test,” Thomas continued. “I was singled out and brought to Luskin himself. He told me about Sky.”

     “Unbelievable,” someone said and everyone shushed him again.

     “Luskin recognized me from somewhere,” said Thomas. “To be sure he asked me what I did for a living. I told him.”

     “So, if you were with the secret service do you know where Wolfe is?” asked Matthew.

     “At the time of the attack, I was in a bunker with President Wolfe,” he explained. “Wolfe has moved to a secluded area and I myself never knew where he went to until recently. Luskin knows where he is.”

     “How is it that another country knows and our own country does not?” asked Janice. “Why are they suddenly so interested?”

     “There were thousands of teens that they found in the middle of the ocean,” he explained. “There were displaced and Russia took them in. On top of providing a home for these teens they are sick with leukemia. This has caused Russia an expense. Since the teens are genetically connected to the victims of the attack Luskin wants to retaliate against Wolfe. They are aware that Americans are looking for Wolfe and they are here to help.”

     “I thought it was your job to protect Wolfe,” Matthew crossed his arms. Thomas nodded his head. “If there are people within the government who are interested in bringing down Wolfe why hasn’t it been done?”

     “What’s in it for you?” asked Janice.

     “Our job is to protect the president. Since that is what all we have done we never thought of turning against him. We do not know which building he is in. Politicians have been in touch with him and it is possible that Dr. Simplot knows where he is,” said Thomas. “I’m bringing justice to my sister Sonya. I feel violated that North Korea took a piece of my sister and cloned her. I want to bring back our country and government. Our country needs to recover from this mess.”

     “I’m not sure if we can trust you,” said Janice. “You work with Wolfe and Luskin.”

     “Homeland security could be here,” said Thomas. “Instead I am here.”

     Matthew looked at Janice and then to Thomas, “So, he knew where he was this whole entire time?”

     “It is possible, but if he does I am certain you have reason to convince him that he needs to tell you where he is,” said Thomas. “We are going to need to travel to Colorado. I understand that he is in a secluded area there.”

     “I will talk to Simplot,” said Matthew. “It pisses me off because he was here and did not say anything about it.”

     “He’s not in another country?” Janice asked.

     Thomas shook his head, “He was banned from Mexico, Canada, Japan, and a number of other countries.”

     “So much for respect from other countries that Wolfe spoke of,” said Matthew.

     “He didn’t have any respect for anyone, but himself,” said Thomas. “He didn’t have anywhere to go so he had to go into hiding somewhere. The east and west coast are too dangerous, so he established our capital in private in Colorado.”

     “What are we waiting for?” someone in the back of the room said.

     “We need to alert the rest of the group to meet in Colorado,” said Matthew.

     “Why don’t we go there first and then call everyone to meet us there?” asked Janice.

     “I’ll tell you what,” said Thomas. “I’ll take you all there and you can decide from there.”

     “Sounds like a plan,” said Matthew. “Let’s pack up and go.”