– Chapter Twenty –

Danielle gripped the phone tightly in her hand. Rat had gone out to a local store for a short while, which had given Danielle the chance to plot. She'd crept into Lucas's room while he was in the shower and swiped it, still entirely convinced something wasn't right. She'd then taken it back to her own room to investigate. She'd been so sure Lucas was in contact with Katja, but whoever this Gabby was, she didn't sound like she knew anything. In fact, she sounded very young, Danielle thought.

And she claimed to be Ashleigh's cousin. Ashleigh who though?

Just what was going on here? Danielle stared down at the phone and scrolled through the call history rapidly. There were other numbers in here as well; perhaps one of those would lead to Katja.

Danielle heard the shower switch off from the bathroom, and her heart hammered. She wouldn't have time to call these other numbers too; not now at least. Instead, the skater hopped up from her bed, and darted down the hall to Lucas's room. She debated ditching the phone and fleeing again, but a powerful wave of instinct and determination stopped Danielle dead in her tracks.

A few minutes later, Lucas opened his bedroom door, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, and gave an uncharacteristic shriek of alarm to see Danielle standing before him.

"DANIELLE?!" he boomed fearfully. "Vat zee fack?!"

Danielle's face remained unimpressed and blank. She simply held up Lucas's phone, and raised her eyebrows. "Who is Gabby, Lucas?" she asked coolly.

Lucas gaped at her as if she'd lost her mind. He gripped his towel tightly, making sure he was appropriately covered. "Vat is zee meaning of zis?!"

"You know what zee meaning of zis is; do not play dumb," Danielle hissed. She took a threatening step towards him. "I know you 'ave been contacting Katja. I 'ave spoken to Gabby just now."

Lucas shook his head helplessly, backing himself up against the wall as Danielle drew nearer. "Who is Gabby?!"

"Oh no, I am asking you zat question, Lucas," Danielle told him. "She said she is cousins with Ashleigh. She means Ashleigh Callingham, oui? Leigh?"

Lucas became rigid, and he felt entirely sick.

"Does she mean Rachel Duncan?" Danielle demanded then. "Was Aila right? Is Rachel faking being Leigh? How is zis...zis Gabby involved, and how is Katja?! And why are you keeping all zese secrets from me and Ratty?!"

"I am not!" Lucas wailed. "Danielle, please; I must put some clothes on-"

"No," Danielle snapped. "You need to explain what is going on!"

"I do not know of any Gabby, and I am not involved wiz Katja!"

"Zen why was Gabby on zee end of zis number?"

Lucas just shook his head again. He was entirely lost now. As angry as he was about Danielle taking his phone without consent, he couldn't blame her for being suspicious, and for wanting to make sure she and Rat were safe.

Danielle narrowed her eyes. "I know you genuinely care for Ratty, Lucas, but zis is insanity. You are lying about somezing, and I will find out what!"

Just then, a door elsewhere in the building sounded open, followed by Rat's voice.

"Danielle! Lucas! I'm back!"

"Danielle, give me zee phone," Lucas begged. He lunged forward to take it, but Danielle backed away and shoved the phone down her top and into her bra so Lucas wouldn't dare take it.

Lucas just froze, more shocked than ever. Danielle didn't seem to care about her actions in the slightest.

"You will not get zis back until you tell me zee truth," she said matter-of-factly. "I will not scare Ratty wiz anyzing until zen; until I know you mean well. I will 'old onto zee phone until you explain."

Danielle strutted out of the room to greet Rat, leaving Lucas completely horrified for more reasons than one.

Leigh was flopped across her sofa, absently flipping through channels. It was extremely quiet in the house without Gabby around. Shaun sat on the other side of the room. If he wasn't breathing, one could easily mistake him for a statue due to how still and silent he was.

Leigh stretched and glanced over at him quietly. Her conversation with Gabby weighed heavily on her mind. She hated to acknowledge it, but Gabby was right. Leigh didn't know anything about Shaun, even though he'd been her monitor for a few months now. Maybe rather than always seeing the DYAD minion in him, she should try to see the person in him?

"Why are you staring again?" Shaun grunted.

Leigh blinked, frowning a bit. "Just thinking."

"Dare I ask what about?" Shaun asked dryly.

Leigh bit her lip and sat up to look at him properly. "I was wondering what happened to your wife," she said honestly.

Shaun blinked, a pained look crossing his face for a moment, before he looked down at the ground. "Why?"

Leigh sighed a bit. "Look, I'm sorry for how nasty I've been with you. Gabby seems to think you're OK though, so…I dunno, maybe we could start over and try to get to know each other a bit? I mean, you're probably going to be my monitor for a while yet, so…" she trailed off and shrugged awkwardly. "Did you do anything before getting involved with DYAD?"

Shaun stared at her for a long moment, before apparently realising that she was serious. He gave a heavy sigh, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "I was a ceramics designer for most of my life…" he explained. "My dad had a popular shop that sold ceramics products of all sorts, and I just grew up doing it, I suppose."

"Really?" Leigh asked, surprised. "That sounds interesting."

Shaun shrugged. "It was what it was. The money was good, and I was able to make a few people happy, so…"

Leigh nodded quietly. She wondered how a ceramics designer ever got involved with DYAD. As if reading her mind, Shaun spoke again lowly. "Lauren…she was a scientist. Easily the most brilliant and kind-hearted woman I'd ever met…why she gave someone like me the time of day was anyone's guess, but I suppose that's just fate," he said.

Leigh blinked slowly. "A DYAD scientist?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice calm and non-accusing.

Shaun nodded once. "Yes…she'd been working for them for years by the time I met her. I never even heard of the place until she told me about them, and about the work they do."

"She told you about clones?" Leigh asked, finding that she was very interested to hear this.

"Yes," Shaun nodded. "Didn't tell me much of the specifics, but just kind of gave a general overview of what was going on. At first I wasn't sure if I believed her…I mean, I'd heard of cloned sheep, but cloned humans from nearly thirty years prior? Truth be told, I didn't fully realise that it was true until I met you and your sister."

"Yeah…it's a lot for anyone to take in," Leigh agreed. "I was always shit scared of meeting other clones because I wasn't sure how they'd react to the news."

Shaun nodded. "Indeed…Lauren was always so passionate about her work though that I pretty much just nodded along with whatever she said, even if I didn't really understand it a lot of the time," he said, a small chuckle escaping him.

Leigh smirked a bit at the mental image. She could easily relate, as she herself often zoned out whenever Rachel or Leekie started talking about in-depth science stuff. It was impossible to miss the way Shaun's eyes grew soft and warm at the various memories he was talking about, and Leigh felt extremely bad for treating him like a slave for the past several months. Gabby was right; Shaun wasn't a bad person. He was just lonely and sad.

Shaun sighed heavily then, the light slowly dying from his eyes. "One day, the facility was attacked by these religious extremists who thought they were doing the right thing by destroying everything relating to science…Lauren…s-she got caught in the crossfire," he reluctantly said, before trailing off and closing his eyes tightly. It was obvious that talking about this was upsetting him, even as he tried to fight off the swell of emotions.

Leigh watched him intently. "The Proletheans," she stated.

Shaun nodded. "Yes. Doctor Leekie approached me after Lauren's death. We both knew these Proleatheans would never stop, and it seemed likely they might target families of those working for DYAD."

Leigh nodded. "Yeah, that's true," she said. She remembered Tracy saying the Proleatheans went as far as to threaten Gabby and Jake's safety because of Tracy's involvement.

"So DYAD offered me protection. Adam and I were relocated to a safe house where the Proleatheans would have little luck finding us. In return, I gave my services to DYAD for various causes, until I met you."

"And that's how you became a monitor," Leigh said.

"I did what was necessary to keep my son safe," Shaun told her.

Leigh fell quiet. Nobody had forced Shaun to turn monitor and stick with DYAD; it had very much been his own choice, but Leigh completely understood why he was doing it. In this instance, Leekie had done a good thing by promising to keep Shaun and Adam protected. It was just a shame Shaun didn't understand just how unethical and dangerous involving himself with clones could be. Leigh realised then that Shaun didn't know much at all about any of it.

"I guess you don't get to see him often though, huh?" Leigh asked then.

"Adam? He's six, so he's at school all day. At times finding babysitters is a struggle when I am required to monitor you outside of school hours. He stays with his grandparents a lot, but they're not always available...but we get by."

Leigh looked back up at Shaun, considering her next words carefully. "You should bring him here. Gabby already said she loves him, and I bet she'd like to see him again."

Shaun stared at Leigh as if she was crazy. "Are you serious?"

"Well why not? You'd get to see him more often. It's not right you don't get much time with your kid because you're made to watch a freak like me. Especially when...when I've been such a bitch," Leigh mumbled.

Shaun, despite everything, managed a very small smirk. "Well stop being a bitch, and I shall think about it."

Leigh couldn't help herself and laughed loudly. "I'm sorry; was that banter I heard?"

Shaun just smiled. It was an odd sight to see. "In all honesty, I am not sure I want to bring my child into all of this – no offence intended. I'm not saying 'no'; I would just like to think about it."

"Yeah, I know," Leigh said. "I still wish I could keep Gabby far away from all of this. The last thing I want is for her to get involved."

"Who the fuck is Katja?" Gabby complained. "And Lucas?"

"You said this French girl said his surname too? Right?" Ian asked.

The teenagers were waiting in the hallway at Ian's house. Gabby had contacted Leigh to come and pick her up, and now they were waiting for Leigh to arrive, but the strange phone call was still playing on Gabby's mind.

"Aye, Lucas Weiss, or somethin'?"

Ian's mouth fell open. "Lucas Weiss? Lucas Weiss...I swear I know that name..."

Gabby stared. "Ya do?"

"I dunno; it seems familiar for some reason...I could be wrong; I might just be confusing it with something else," Ian shrugged. "Look, just ask your cousin about it; she's obviously been using your phone for something."

"Yeah," Gabby growled. "And I'm gonna find out what."

It wasn't long until they heard a car pull up. Gabby glanced at Ian. "Um…thanks for havin' me over. It were proper fun," she told him quickly, before leaving the house.

Ian smiled, waving goodbye to her before closing the door. From inside the car, Leigh couldn't help but grin widely at the two, highly amused. She glanced over at Gabby when the young girl got into the passenger seat. "Have fun?" she teased, waiting until Gabby had her seatbelt on before backing out of the driveway.

Gabby looked up at Leigh suspiciously, frowning a bit. "Oi, who's Katja? And Lucas Weiss?"

Leigh's eyebrows shot up in stunned shock. Where on earth did Gabby hear about Lucas and Katja?! "W-what?" she asked, trying to play it cool and focus on driving.

Gabby's frown deepened. She hadn't missed the surprise on her cousin's face. "Some weird French chick kept calling me earlier and kept asking if I was Katja, and then asked if I knew Lucas Weiss. I keep seein' ya hangin' 'round my phone, so have ya been usin' it to call that woman?"

Leigh struggled to think of an explanation as her mind started racing a bit. She'd only ever used Gabby's phone to contact Lucas, Tracy, and Aila.

Who was this 'weird French chick' that Gabby had mentioned? The only French woman Leigh had ever known in her life was Danielle…but that didn't make sense. It was impossible for Danielle to be with Aila and Tracy, and if Lucas was doing DYAD's work currently, then she shouldn't be with him either.

"Do you have the number in your call logs?" Leigh found herself asking.

Gabby looked severely unimpressed at Leigh's lack of denial. "So ya HAVE been usin' my phone?!"

"No, I haven't," Leigh said quickly, backtracking. "It was probably a wrong number. I can block it for you, if you'd like?"

"You're proper shit at lyin'," Gabby muttered, crossing her arms, slumping in her seat a bit. "You're not havin' my friggin' phone to make weird calls to weird French people. Go use your own phone for that!"

"Gabby, I haven't used your phone to call any French people," Leigh snapped. That much was true, at least. "Why do you think I had anything to do with it in the first place?! Did this woman mention me in any way?"

Gabby thought it over. She knew that Leigh had a point. Whoever kept calling her hadn't mentioned Leigh by name, and Gabby had just assumed that Leigh was connected because the hairdresser kept getting caught with Gabby's phone…but what proof did she have to say that it wasn't a random wrong number?

"Well?" Leigh snapped when Gabby didn't respond.

"No, she didn't mention you," Gabby muttered. "But I know you're up to somethin', Ashleigh. Your face when I asked 'bout Katja and Lucas said that much."

"Gabby, I'm not up to anything," Leigh sighed as she pulled into her own driveway. "Why would you even say that?"

Gabby grumbled a bit as she got out of the car. "You're not havin' my phone, in any case," she told her pointedly. "I'll keep it on me from now on." With that, Gabby turned on her heel and went inside the house.

Leigh muttered to herself and kicked at her car's front tire out of frustration. This was just great. What if Tracy called again? Or Lucas? Leigh still wanted to know what the number of the woman who called Gabby was. Could it really have been Danielle? Or was it someone else entirely? If it was someone else, how would they know about Katja and Lucas?

"Fuck's sake," Leigh sighed. She'd have to get that number off of Gabby's phone somehow, without alerting the young girl to it. Leigh knew that she'd also have to somehow get hold of a new cell phone that DYAD was not aware of, and give Tracy the new number.

"On your feet, Wilks," Officer Howard said firmly, looking down at Tracy. "You have a visitor."

Tracy looked up at Howard in surprise. She had been in the library reading something. "I didn't send out no visitin' orders," she said, but she knew what this meant. This meant Leekie was here.

Aila looked between Tracy and Howard warily. She didn't know about Leekie's visit, or that it was even possible to visit someone without an order.

Howard looked unimpressed. "Well someone's here to see you regardless, so let's go."

Tracy sighed a bit, inwardly steeling herself up as much as possible. "See ya in a bit, I guess," she said to Aila, before following Howard.

As they passed through the corridors, Tracy noticed another officer heading towards them, and it only took a moment to see Morgan and Saffi following along behind him. Tracy didn't miss the evil smirk that the clone shot at her as they passed by each other.

'Wonderful; Leekie's here and the psycho clone's back on the wing…' Tracy thought. She wasn't sure which one was the lesser of two evils.

Howard led her to one of the private visiting rooms that consisted of only one desk with two chairs. Leekie was already there, smiling in his annoyingly happy way when he saw Tracy. Howard's gaze lingered on Leekie for a split second, but then she looked away and instructed Tracy to sit.

"One hour," Howard stated. Leekie gave her a subtle nod, and Howard back off and closed the door.

Tracy stared at Leekie calmly, leaning back in her chair. "Dr. Leekie. Long time no see. Didn't you used to have hair?"

Leekie looked momentarily insulted, but then he smiled widely. "Well that indicates just how long it's been since we saw one another."

"What do you want?" Tracy snapped.

Leekie's smile faltered again. It seemed he was eager to get straight to the point, just as Tracy was. "I want to make a deal," he said seriously. "You know what brings me here, I'm sure."

"Aye," Tracy nodded, eyes wide as she glared at Leekie. "You're huntin' for Amelia."

"And we still require further co-operation from you," Leekie explained. "I can get you out of this prison. Reunite you with your daughter."

Tracy's eyes narrowed. "How? I appealed recently, and I lost. It was made quite clear I ain't goin' nowhere."

Leekie grinned a bit. "Please," he insisted. "I think you know anything is possible."

"And why should I trust a word that comes out of your mouth?" Tracy demanded.

"What have you got to lose?" Leekie dared her.

Tracy fell silent. She didn't particularly want to part with Aila now, but that wasn't a strong enough reason to consent to staying in prison for the rest of her days. Maybe, from on the outside, Tracy could find a way to help Aila better.

And she really did want to be with Gabby and Jake again.

"If I were to help you," Tracy began, "and I mean if...I hope you ain't expectin' me to talk until I'm actually out of this shithole."

Leekie merely observed her. He thought Tracy was arrogant and had little right to make such demands when she was the reason Amelia and her twin daughters had vanished in the first place. However, he also knew locating all three was a much, much bigger priority than punishing Tracy even further.

"Naturally," he spoke with a soft grin. "I'll allow you time to consider your options. I trust twenty-four hours will be sufficient?"

"Aye, whatever," Tracy spat.

Leekie nodded and stood. He took a small card from his pocket at passed it to Tracy. "My number," he explained. It was a business card printed with the official DYAD logo, and Leekie's contact details.

Tracy silently took it, and Leekie left the visiting room with a cold smirk.

Rat, Lucas and Danielle sat around a table in their hotel room that evening as they ate dinner. They were all oddly silent, and Rat was well aware of a strange tension in the room.

Lucas barely looked up as he ate. His mind had been racing hard for the past few days to think of what to say to Danielle. Explaining that Leigh was alive was not an option.

Rachel had already warned him that doing so would end in dire consequences.

And Danielle couldn't help shooting dark glances in Lucas's direction. It made Rat uneasy.

"Out with it," she snapped at them.

"Huh?" Danielle asked innocently.

"The hell's the matter with you two? Why've you both been in a crap mood all day?" Rat demanded.

"Headaches," Lucas said gruffly.

Danielle shrugged. "I am not in a crap mood," she assured Rat.

"You're always in some kind of mood," Rat attempted to joke, but Danielle, as if proving Rat's point, rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed.

"Excuse me," she muttered anxiously. She stood from the table and made her way to her bedroom. Lucas and Rat eyed her suspiciously.

"Do you think she's struggling?" Rat asked Lucas. "Cravings or something?"

"I do not know," Lucas shrugged. "Possibly."

"Yeah, she's bound to have down days still," Rat muttered. "Maybe I should go see if I can help her..."

Lucas shook his head. "Leave her, Regina," he said sharply. Rat blinked, slightly taken aback by the unusual abruptness in his voice. "You know her space is important to her. She vill be fine."

Rat remained silent, but watched Lucas carefully as they continued their meal.

Meanwhile, Danielle gently closed her bedroom door, and sat down on her bed. She took out Lucas's phone, which she'd moved into the pocket of her jeans. Danielle had been waiting for a chance all day to investigate the other numbers Lucas had called, but it had been quite hard with Rat and Lucas constantly present. Doing so while they were in the other room now was still quite risky, but the impatience and anxiety this caused Danielle pushed her to go through with it anyway.

Danielle looked at the past calls in the call log. She found a different number; one dated around the time Danielle first caught Lucas speaking in German to somebody.

Biting her lip, Danielle called the number back. It rang for a few short moments.

"Ja, Lucas?" a familiar voice answered. "Was hast du zu berichten?"

Danielle's heart raced, certain she'd gotten the right number this time. "K-Katja?!"

"Entschuldigen sie? Wer is das?"

"Katja; it's Danielle – you know I do not speak German – where are you? What is going on?"

A strange pause followed.

"You are Danielle?" the voice spoke in English now. "Not Danielle Fournier, surely..."

Now though, Danielle was really confused. The voice sounded like Katja's, until it spoke in English – but the accent was too perfect. Katja's accent was very distinctly German.

"Where is Lucas?" the woman demanded when Danielle remained silent. "Put him on the call, please. Tell him Rachel Duncan wishes to speak with him immediately."

"Oh..." Danielle gasped to herself. Rachel Duncan. Rachel Duncan. Danielle knew that name. "You...you are Rachel Duncan..."

"Indeed...so I take it you have been deceiving us, Miss Fournier...it had come to our attention that you had passed. Lucas was aware that were alive the whole time?"

"I-I…" Danielle squeaked, unsure what she should do.

Rachel Duncan was the head of DYAD. Had Danielle just accidentally given their position away? Was this call being tracked as they spoke? Danielle snapped the phone shut in panic and stared down at it with wide eyes. Why was Lucas in contact with Rachel Duncan?

It only took a moment for the device to buzz to life again. Inwardly, Danielle knew how stupid it would be to answer it, but she wanted to know why Lucas was in contact with Rachel.

"Hanging up on me is not advised, peasant," Rachel said firmly.

Danielle narrowed her eyes even though Rachel couldn't see her, feeling rather insulted at being called a peasant. "Why is Lucas in contact wiz you?" Danielle demanded, moving as far away from the door as possible to make sure no one overheard her.

"That is not your concern," Rachel told her. "I insist you put Lucas on the phone this instant."

"Why? 'ave you been faking being Leigh to 'im, like you 'ave been faking being Leigh to Aila?" Danielle asked, trying to get something out of Rachel.

"Faking being Leigh?" Rachel asked slowly. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I am talking about," Danielle hissed, even though the confusion in Rachel's voice sounded oddly genuine.

"I'm afraid I do not," Rachel drawled. "Now put Lucas on the phone."

Danielle considered her present options. Should she confront Lucas in private about this? Or throw him in at the deep end? After mulling it over for a moment, Danielle decided that this was far too big to keep from Rat. If Lucas was in contact with Rachel, that meant Lucas was a danger to them both.

Danielle walked back to the common room, and put the phone on loudspeaker as she approached the table. Rat and Lucas stared at her, both slightly taken aback by her sudden reappearance.

"Lucas is here," Danielle said into the phone, holding it in the middle of the table.

"You disappoint me, Lucas," Rachel said threateningly.

The German man paled considerably. Rat's eyebrows shot up in stunned shock, and she dropped her fork onto her plate. The voice was unmistakably a clone voice, but there was only one clone Rat knew of who sounded like a robot when speaking.

"What the...?! Is that RACHEL?!" the hacker gasped, looking between Danielle and Lucas wildly for some sort of explanation.

Lucas struggled to find his voice. He was absolutely horrified that Danielle had gone and taken a call with Rachel of all people. He snatched the phone away from Danielle and ended the call quickly. He knew that hanging up on Rachel was a terrible idea, but he currently had bigger things to worry about.

"I zink you 'ave explaining to do now," Danielle hissed at him.

Lucas bowed his head, knowing that he had no choice but to come clean now. "I-I will tell you boz everyzing…" he said. He could lie and say that Rachel was in his contacts because he technically did still work for DYAD, but he didn't want to keep so many secrets from the clones anymore.

"You'd better explain!" Rat snapped, panic bleeding into anger, as it often did. "Does Rachel know that we're here?! Does she know that you're travelling with us?!"

Lucas flinched, before sighing. "It started just after vee rescued Aila…DYAD reviewed zee security footage and saw zat I had helped Leigh to free Aila. Sometime later, zey started following me around vizout my knowledge, and discovered zat I vas helping you all," he began quietly. "Dr. Leekie, he called me into his office not long after, just a few days after Aila vas taken avay by zee bounty hunters…he vanted to make a deal. I had unknowingly led him right to Eliza's house…he said zat if I did not take zee deal, zen he vould put you in prison as vell. Zat vould have made everyzing vee did be for nozing."

"And what exactly was this deal?!" Rat demanded.

"Dr. Leekie vanted me to become monitor to von of his lost clones," Lucas admitted.

The room fell silent.

A cold understanding washed over Rat. Leigh was dead. DYAD thought Daniellewas dead, Aila was in prison, and Katja was missing...

"You've been monitoring me," Rat whispered, covering her mouth. She visibly trembled at the stunning revelation. Horror, shock, and anger all melded together into a sickening new emotion as she tried to process what she was hearing.

"Ja…" Lucas said quietly, closing his eyes tightly. "I am so sorry, Regina. I vas trying to keep you safe!"

Lucas's phone rang. Lucas flinched to see it was Rachel's number again, but everyone ignored it for now. Lucas leaned closer to Rat, looking desperate.

"Please-"

"Don't," Rat seethed, holding her hand up. She shot up from the table, almost knocking her chair over. "I can't listen to this...I can't listen to this..."

Rat marched out of the door and left the building without even taking her jacket, leaving Danielle and Lucas to deal with the ringing phone.