– Chapter Twenty-Four –
Rat wrote down Danielle's home address from her file. They figured the most direct approach would be best for now, and shortly later, Rat and Katja were preparing to head out.
"Be safe. Call us when you can," Aila told them as she watched them make their way towards the door.
"Ja, ve vill. You be safe too. Hopefully crazy pan lady vill be better ven she vakes," Katja said, giving Aila a light hug.
"You and me both," Aila said with a lopsided grin.
Aila walked into the kitchen and put together a makeshift ice pack with some ice-cubes, a plastic bag, and a towel before making her way back into the living room. She moved a chair close to the sofa and sat down to relax and keep an eye on Leigh.
Even though her face hurt a lot, she didn't hold what happened against the hairdresser, and she didn't think any less of Leigh for it either. She knew the other clone hadn't been in her right mind.
After another hour passed, Leigh made a slight grunting sound and began to stir. Aila watched her warily in case the drug hadn't worn off, but she refused to distance herself unless it was clearly necessary.
Leigh opened her eyes slowly, her vision unfocused. After a moment, her eyes found Aila. She winced at the light as the world slowly came into focus. Her head pounded hard and she felt sick.
"Ailaaaaa...what the fuck happened last night?" she whined, covering her eyes with her hand.
Aila smiled in spite of herself, feeling that Leigh was back with herself. She sighed in relief and stood up. "Hang on, I'll close the blinds." She rushed around the room to dim the light coming through the windows.
Leigh gingerly removed her hand from her eyes when Aila was done, the dim lights much more acceptable to her sensitive eyes. Aila sat back down in her chair, and Leigh noticed her holding a towel to her face. "What's up?" she asked, looking at the purple colour peeking out from under the towel.
Aila hesitated and then shook her head. "Never mind. It's nothing. How are you feeling?" she asked gently.
"Like I got hit by a truck," Leigh grumbled, closing her eyes again. "Seriously, what the hell happened last night? I can't remember anything..."
Aila frowned. "What's the last thing you can remember?"
Leigh was silent for several minutes, before shaking her head slowly. "I don't know...I was at the bar...and then I think I was dancing...but..."
"But that's all?" Aila asked.
Leigh nodded. Aila sighed quietly. Should she unload everything onto Leigh now or wait until she felt better? The doctor stood quietly and went into the bathroom to get some painkillers and a glass of water. She brought each item to Leigh individually so as to not have to put the towel down just yet, not wanting to shock Leigh with the state of her face.
"Cheers..." Leigh muttered, taking the painkillers before looking back to Aila, who was watching her with an odd expression. "OK so what happened?" she asked again.
Aila was quiet for a moment before sighing. "We're pretty sure you were drugged last night," she said quietly.
Leigh's eyes widened in horrified shock as she choked on her water a bit. "WHAT?!" she gasped, instinctively looking down at her own body.
Aila could see where her thoughts had gone, and she shook her head. "No, no, don't worry, not like that. I'm reasonably certain no one took advantage," she said quickly to soothe Leigh's fears. "I don't think anyone could have kept you still long enough for that..."
Leigh managed a small sigh, but she felt herself tense up as Aila explained what she and Rat had discovered.
"Fuuuuck," Leigh groaned angrily. She rubbed her eyes and absently clawed at her face. "Yeah...the barman...he thought I was Danielle and I just sort of went with it...bloody moron..."
"It could have happened to any of us," Aila tried to assure her.
"So what happened with Danielle?"
"Not a lot," Aila answered. She briefly went over Rat's unsuccessful attempt to communicate with the French clone, and the fact she and Katja were on their way to visit her. "Rat said she'll call to update us in a bit."
Leigh started to nod, but found it hurt her head, so she stopped quickly. She and Aila sat quietly for a short while, both lost in thought. It wasn't long before Aila removed the ice pack from her face when her arm started to ache. It did not go unnoticed by Leigh.
"Seriously, what the hell happened to you?" Leigh demanded. Aila refused to meet her gaze. She instead took the ice pack with her other hand and pressed it to her face again. "Aila."
"Nothing. It was an accident."
Realisation dawned on Leigh, even in her weakened and slightly confused state. She sat up straight and leaned closer to Aila. "Did I do that to you?"
Aila shrugged. "It wasn't your fault. I'm more concerned about how you are gonna feel. Apparently that stuff is addictive."
"Shit," Leigh whispered. A great sadness and guilt hit her at the thought of causing any sort of harm to Aila. "Let me see." She urged Aila to look at her properly so she could examine the damage. The bruise was a variety of colours from purples to blue-greens to reds. It looked painful. "God Aila, I'm so sorry. I don't even remember..."
"I know," Aila told her. "It'll heal."
"Yeah, but still..." Leigh had to fight to stop herself getting emotional. Aila stared at her, confused at the strange look on Leigh's face.
"You OK?" she asked.
"I..." Leigh started, shaking a bit. "I...I'm gonna throw up," she gasped, and she was on her feet and rushing for the bathroom in an instant.
Rat and Katja stood before Danielle's home, out of sight across the street. The area was quieter than they thought it would be, but when Rat thought about it, it wasn't really surprising. It made sense someone like Danielle wanted their privacy.
"You know I vould do it if I could speak French," Katja told her sister evenly. They both gazed at the house in front of them, barely moving.
Rat sighed to herself. Katja's bravery was certainly useful when it came to approaching other subjects for the first time, and after the cold way Danielle brushed her off the previous night, the hacker wasn't looking forward to round two.
"Come on," she mumbled, moving to approach the house. Katja followed instantly, placing her large sunglasses on her face as they walked. Rat reluctantly knocked on the door once they reached her house. Then, she turned to stare at Katja.
"What if someone else answers?"
"Who?"
"Like her boyfriend."
"Too late for zat now," Katja said bluntly. "Vatever happens, vee deal with it."
It wasn't Danielle or her boyfriend who answered the door, but rather an older gentleman who was dressed in an old-fashioned butler outfit. He stared at the two, apparently surprised.
"Nous avons besoin de voir Danielle. Il est important," Rat said as calmly as she could, unwilling to back down now. They needed to get this over with as soon as possible. ("We need to see Danielle. It's important.")
"Elle n'a jamais parlé des sœurs...mais venir, je vais l'appeler vers le bas," the old man said, stepping aside to allow them into the house. ("She never spoke about sisters...but come in, I'll call her down.")
"Merci," Rat said with a nod, following the man as he led them to a small sitting area. "Est le petit ami de Danielle autour par hasard?" ("Is Danielle's boyfriend around by chance?")
"Non," the old man responded.
"Thank God for small favours..." Rat muttered under her breath.
Katja looked around before sitting down on the posh sofa beside Rat. She didn't have a clue what was being said, but she was content to be there to support her sister if anything went wrong.
The butler vanished from the room and Rat sighed, leaning back. "Well this is gonna be fun..."
"Ja, but vee must get her samples," Katja said.
"I know that," Rat told her "Just not looking forward to talking to her again after last night."
"Vee vill be fine," Katja assured her, lightly putting her hand on her sister's shoulder.
Rat gave her a small smile, before the two heard footsteps. They looked over to see the butler returning with Danielle close behind. The skater looked rather grumpy until she spotted the other two clones, her expression then transforming into cautious curiosity.
Danielle turned to look at the butler. "Nous quitter," she ordered sternly. The butler gave a quick bow and left the room, shutting the door behind him, and Danielle glared fiercely at Rat and Katja. "Qu'est-ce que ce est?"
Rat stood up and dared to take a step towards Danielle. She explained she tried to get Danielle's attention the previous night, reminding her she was wearing a mask, to which Danielle nodded briefly, clearly having some memory of the incident.
Katja waited while Rat talked. She couldn't understand a word, though it was obvious to her Rat was explaining why they looked identical. She also heard Helena's name pop up once or twice.
Rat fell quiet when she said all she felt she could say. Her voice echoed a bit at her last words, followed by a ringing silence.
Danielle just stared. "Mensonges," she spat after an awkward few seconds. "Impossible."
"Nous pouvons le prouver," Rat insisted, but Danielle shook her head.
"Je ne suis pas interesse. Se il vous plait aller."
The French clone marched towards the main doors of the house and forced them open, waiting for Rat and Katja to leave. Rat wanted to argue, but there wasn't much they could do. Holding her breath, she gestured for Katja to follow her out of the house, and exhaled deeply when Danielle slammed shut the door.
"Vat vas all zat about?" Katja demanded instantly.
Rat sighed again. "She basically said I'm a liar, and when I said we can prove it, she said she's not interested. I'm not sure what she'll do if we try again. She's bound to have security of some kind..."
"Ja, not strong enough to fend off Helena zough," Katja grumbled. "Let's call Aila. Vee can decide vat to do zen."
Aila patiently waited on the sofa while Leigh was in the bathroom. When the hairdresser finally came out, she was pale and shaking a bit. Aila frowned. She didn't think trying to eat or drink anything would be a good idea until it passed.
Leigh flopped down on the sofa with a heavy sigh, her head still pounding. Aila lightly rubbed her back. "I don't even want to imagine the hangover you've got today. I have no idea how much you actually drank last night," she said, still keeping the icepack on her own cheek.
Leigh merely groaned in response, closing her eyes again as she carefully leaned back on the sofa. She glanced over at Aila, feeling a pang of guilt again as she saw the doctor's cheek. "Did I do anything else to you or anyone else?" she asked quietly, almost afraid of the answer.
Aila hesitated. "You scratched Katja pretty good on the arm, but that's it as far as we know. After...this happened," she gestured vaguely to her face, "the others floored you and we managed to restrain you enough to get you back here, where you crashed almost immediately."
Leigh frowned, her guilt only increasing. She couldn't believe she hurt her friends, high or not. "I'm so sorry. I swear I'll make it up to you."
Aila shook her head. "Relax. I'll live, and so will Katja. You weren't in your right mind, and neither of us blame you for what happened or think any less of you for it. You couldn't have known the drink was spiked."
Leigh looked unconvinced, though instead of talking, she surged forward and hugged Aila tightly, closing her eyes as she finally broke down and gave into the urge to cry. Aila put her icepack down and returned the hug, lightly rubbing Leigh's back as she did until the hairdresser calmed down.
The sound of a phone going off made Leigh lean back, looking around as she wiped her eyes. Aila stood and retrieved her phone from the table where she'd left it. She answered it and walked back to the sofa to sit down again. "Hey Rat. How'd it go?"
Aila nodded quietly as Rat updated her on the situation, frowning subtly. "For real? That's not good...you guys heading back now? Alright...yeah, she's awake, and back to normal," she said with a glance over at Leigh. "Alright, see you guys in a bit. Stay safe."
Leigh raised an eyebrow. "Bad news?"
Aila nodded. "Apparently Danielle thinks they're lying and doesn't want anything to do with us," she sighed. Leigh narrowed her eyes and stood up, though the sudden motion caused her to stagger a bit. Aila watched her, alarmed. "Leigh!"
"We're going over there!" Leigh growled. "We'll bloody well MAKE her listen! We're NOT letting Helena get another one!"
Aila stared at her. "Leigh, sit down. You're not fit to go anywhere today. Let's wait and regroup and come up with a real plan," she tried to reason.
Sickness overcame Leigh again almost instantly. She swayed and sat back down on the sofa, knowing Aila was right. She was in no fit state to argue. She instead nodded, though her anger at Danielle's stubbornness did not subside.
As soon as this hangover left her, Leigh was going to take action, for real this time.
When Rat and Katja returned from Danielle's house, Leigh apologised to them immediately, though both of them waved her off and told her it was fine. Instead, they filled Leigh and Aila in on exactly what happened at Danielle's house.
None of the clones were sure how to go about getting Danielle's samples, so they decided to leave it until they could come up with a solid plan. Everyone knew it'd take some time before Leigh was fit to go out anyway. They figured all they could do for now was keep an eye on things, and hope Helena would stay well enough away.
As the day drew to a close and night set in, Leigh became more and more restless. Her hangover had gone away over the course of the afternoon, but now she felt uncomfortable and twitchy.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell's wrong with me?" Leigh groaned, holding her head as she wandered back and forth in the living room after everyone else had gone to bed. She was far too wound up to sleep.
"You're still detoxing."
Leigh glanced up, seeing Rat leaning against the door frame, watching her. Leigh stared. "How long have you been there?"
Rat shrugged. "I heard you wandering around. You only had one dose, so the cravings should go away on their own soon. Unfortunately, you'll have to put up with it until then."
"Right," Leigh mumbled in response. "God, I'm so pissed at Danielle for all of this! How the hell didn't we realise sooner she's a friggin' junkie?"
Rat shrugged and guiltily averted her gaze. "Sometimes we make mistakes," she offered simply.
Leigh stopped in her tracks to watch Rat properly. She knew it was easy to miss things out when reading the files of the other subjects, especially with everything going on around them.
"Sorry," Leigh told Rat sincerely. "I'm just-"
"Edgy, I know," Rat finished for her. "You gave us a fright, you know."
Leigh stared. "Well so did you the last time we saw Helena," she let slip.
Rat wasn't sure how to respond to this. She wanted to be annoyed at Leigh for a moment for daring to make such a sarcastic remark, but it dawned on her quickly there was nothing sarcastic about Leigh's comment at all. She wasn't sure she wanted to admit she and Leigh had feared for each others' safety.
"Sorry," Leigh said again. She sat down on the sofa at last, rubbing her eyes and pulling at her hair.
Reluctantly, Rat joined her, surprising Leigh a bit. "Keep focused, Callingham," she said bluntly, staring directly ahead at the wall opposite. "Danielle is our last obstacle before we finally get to meet Beth in person."
"If Beth will even agree to it," Leigh muttered.
"She will if she wants these samples," Rat pointed out.
A pause followed.
"Leigh," Rat spoke again, unable to put up with the tension between them. "If there's still a chance to save Katja, we have to focus on it. I know we're all still raw about Aryanna and Janika...but..."
"Keep moving forward," Leigh added, nodding. "I know. I'll be damned if we give up now, after everything."
"Which is why you need to at least try and rest until all of this passes," Rat told her. "We ought to be forming a plan for Danielle sooner rather than later."
"Yeah, I know. Thanks..."
"For what?" Rat asked, eyebrow raised.
Leigh shrugged. "For putting up with me."
Rat smirked a bit, but it vanished almost instantly, making Leigh wonder if she was seeing things. "The stuff you were on is called Angel Dust."
"Yeah, Aila said. I don't recommend it," Leigh said, causing Rat to smile again.
"If the cravings become too overwhelming, which I imagine they might, don't sit around or pace trying to wait them out. You'll end up driving yourself up a wall. My advice would be to find something to do to occupy your mind and your hands for a while, like chores or whatnot," she offered carefully.
Leigh raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Trying to saddle me with housework?" she teased lightly.
Rat shrugged. "It worked for me, for the most part."
Rat's comment caught Leigh off guard. She was surprised at the words, and surprised the hacker had even admitted something like that to her. "Wait, what do you mean by that? You used to do drugs?"
Rat shook her head. "Nothing hard or illegal," she said, averting her gaze, as though hesitant at revealing anything to Leigh. "I smoked regularly between the ages of fourteen and nineteen before quitting. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was really hard to do. Ended up relapsing twice before kicking it for good. But yeah...whenever the cravings got too much, I'd go around and play with the dog, or do chores, or just anything really to keep myself distracted until it passed."
Leigh stared at her. "Wow, I wouldn't have guessed that. You seem the type to be against all drugs. It's good you were able to quit though. A lot of people can't." This moment was becoming more and more surreal for her. It wasn't common for she and Rat to talk openly without fighting.
Rat shrugged again. "It was just a method of stress relief. Not a very healthy one, but it worked. Eventually I found a much more positive method of stress relief, but yeah..." she trailed off, not looking at Leigh.
"Really? And what would that be?" Leigh asked before she could stop herself, her curiosity getting the better of her.
"That...would be a story for another time," Rat said with a slight smirk.
Leigh laughed a bit as Rat stood up and crossed the room. She turned to glance back at Leigh before she left. Leigh thought she was going to say something else for a moment, but the hacker simply held Leigh's gaze for a second and retreated for bed.
That night dragged on, as did the next few days. Leigh took Rat's advice to keep busy while recovering from her ordeal, and it seemed to work. She was pleased when she started to feel like her normal self again.
Aila seemed to be recovering quickly too. The swelling in her face went down significantly, though faint bruising was still present.
"It's fine. It doesn't hurt much now anyway," she told the others when discussing it one morning.
Between discussing their plans to confront Danielle again and tending to the dogs, the clones found themselves to be rather restless. Their ideas seemed to run into brick walls whatever they decided, and this only annoyed Leigh more than usual.
"We'll bloody well force her to listen if we have to," she told the others stubbornly.
"How vill you do zat? Tie her up and zreaten her vith pan?" Katja asked coolly, glancing at Leigh over the top of her laptop.
"It's not funny," Leigh snapped at her.
"I never said it vas."
Katja turned her attention back to the laptop while Leigh gathered her thoughts and silently wandered around the room. The German had been reading up on the latest news, but she found she couldn't concentrate properly. She'd also considered calling Beth, but the detective didn't appear to be online.
But someone else was. A notification at the bottom of the screen popped up, reading 'Janika is online'.
"Vat?" Katja asked herself quietly so Leigh couldn't hear her. Didn't Aila say something about DYAD possibly taking Janika's laptop? Had they hacked her account?
Trying not to look suspicious, Katja delicately picked up her laptop and slipped out of the room, hoping to look as though she wanted to go and rest. She securely shut her bedroom door when she reached her room, placed the laptop on the bed, and sat before it.
She frowned deeply. She knew she ought to tell the others, but what was the point in worrying them? Maybe the laptop had been given back. Maybe it was one of Janika's friends or family members logging on to her account.
For the time being, Katja decided to monitor Janika's activity online, watching and waiting for any updates to her account. The afternoon passed by slowly as Katja kept herself busy doing other things while keeping an eye on Janika's Skype. She didn't notice any changes at all.
A knock at the door made the German jump slightly and switch the Skype window to Beth's before looking up at the door. "Ja?"
The door opened, revealing Rat. The hacker looked at her sister. "Dinner's almost ready," she told Katja. "Have you been in here all afternoon?"
"Ja, I vas resting," Katja said evenly. "Not sleeping, just lying around reading." It wasn't technically a lie.
Rat stared at her for a moment, before walking into the room fully to sit on the bed beside Katja. "How're you holding up?" she asked, trying to sound casual about it.
Katja looked at her. "I am fine schwester. Stop vorrying."
Rat shrugged and decided to change the subject. "I've been reading Danielle's file, and the only possible time I can see when she's not surrounded by tourists and security is when she goes and picks up her drugs, though even then I don't know how we can get close to her. A lot of the exchanges seem to be made very quickly, and then she jumps right back into her security ring," she sighed, leaning back on the bed.
"I'm sure crazy pan lady vill come up vith some crazy plan sooner or later," Katja shrugged.
"Crazy and probably stupid," Rat muttered. "Though to be honest, I'll try anything at this point. Sooner we get her samples, the sooner we can get out of here and get to Beth and her mysterious scientist friend..."
Katja put her hand on Rat's shoulder, offering a reassuring smile. She knew Rat was struggling with this, as much as she tried to keep it together. It was the reason she didn't want to confess she'd began having trouble concentrating.
Rat met her gaze for a moment, offering a weak smile in return. "Sorry..."
The German woman shook her head. "Don't be. I vill be out for dinner in a minute. You go on. I just vant to finish reading zis. Make sure others do not eat all zee rolls zis time," she instructed Rat seriously.
Rat smirked, nodded, stretched, and stood up to leave the room.
Katja sat quietly for a while after Rat shut the door. She kept the laptop on, but stood from the bed and began rearranging her possessions and clothes to tidy up a bit. In the back of her mind, she wondered if she was trying to give herself reasons to stay in the room to keep an eye on the laptop, and she shook her head instantly when this realisation hit her. She could not become obsessive about this. Leigh was bad enough with her window habits.
Katja reached out to close the laptop lid, but she froze mid-action when the sound of Skype delivering a message reached her ears. Curiously, Katja climbed back onto the bed and leaned in front of the laptop. She felt her heart catch in her throat to see Janika's name flashing up with a new message.
'Hello,' it read.
Katja stared. Her hand twitched of its own accord, as though wanting to type something back, but she managed to control the urge. She remained frozen for a second or two, trying to decide what to do. Should she call the others in to take a look? Should she risk responding to whoever was on Janika's account?
A video call request was sent. It was enough to make Katja jump a little in surprise; she hadn't realised how loud the volume on her laptop was. She knew it was stupid to answer; stupid and reckless, but these were traits Katja couldn't easily lose, and she knew it.
Katja answered the call reluctantly, curiosity getting the better of her. She briefly expected some DYAD official or relative of Janika's to greet her on the screen...what she saw instead came as a complete shock.
The familiar face of a blonde, wild-haired, feral-eyed clone grinned at Katja from the screen.
"Oh Gott," Katja breathed, staring with wide eyes.