You Never Know
Prologue
The phone rang, and Mary Jaleski's heart skipped a beat. She slowly walked across the room and picked it up.
"Hello?" Mary put the receiver close to her ear.
"What's up, Mary." A low, familiar voice greeted her.
Mary almost dropped the phone. She hadn't been expecting this call. Not yet.
"It's on." The voice continued.
Mary knew what that meant. The mission was in effect. She had to move fast. "I see. But Marcus, why so soon?"
"There's no time to waste here, Mary. Are you in or not?"
"Of course I'm in." Mary said quickly. She knew there was no other choice. She had to do what she had been told. "When will I start?"
The man on the other line chuckled. "As soon as you can. We have to get this project going. You know the organization is still on the run. Project crescent can't move on without the clones."
"I know that." Mary muttered. "So when will I go to Los Angeles and pick up this…kid?"
"How about tomorrow? I will arrange the plane tickets for you."
Mary's heart jumped to her throat. Tomorrow! How could she prepare for all this overnight? But she knew better than to argue. "Fine. Where in Los Angeles?"
"Parkside. You're picking up Amy number Seven." There was a pause. "Candler. Yes, the kid's name is Amy Candler. One of the former scientists had taken custody of her. How smart."
Mary held her breath. She knows who Amy Candler is. In fact, they've met before. As friends. Mary felt like a traitor doing this to her.
"Marcus…" Mary said tentatively. "Are you sure this is…right?"
"I don't give a damn. As long as I get my paycheck, I'd do what they tell me to do."
"You don't really believe, that, Marcus. You know you care about the clones."
"You don't know anything, Mary." answered Marcus coldly.
"Marcus, those clones are humans too. They're not just some guinea pigs they can experiment on!" Mary blurted out.
"Oh, so you're against Project Crescent now?" Marcus' voice was challenging.
"Marcus!" Mary cried. "All I'm trying to say is…" her voice trailed off, suddenly unable find the words.
"Listen, Mary. Why don't you just do it? You're only going to get yourself into trouble. You know how serious they are about this." He paused. "That is, unless you want to end up like your father."
A wave of nausea swept through Mary. Tears stung the back if her eyes. My father. Dr. Jaleski. The former director of Project Crescent. Her mind raced. It hasn't been long since Dr. Jaleski's murder. Mary knew that he was killed because of his involvement with the clones. He had tried to help them, particularly Amy Candler. Mary never found out who killed him, though.
Anger over her father's death suddenly replaced her sadness.
"Is that a threat?" Mary asked.
Marcus sighed. "Mary, can we just get this over with?"
"I asked you a question, Marcus. Were you threatening me?" Mary asked in a firm, almost defensive voice.
"Frankly, yes. You have to realize that this is dangerous, Mary. You have to cooperate." Marcus warned. "You know what the consequences might be."
That stopped Mary.
"Fine." Mary breathed. "See me at the airport tomorrow."
Chapter One
Amy Candler looked at her bestfriend. "Tasha, just wondering, but do you feel weird being…you know, friends with a clone? I mean, I'm genetically engineered, and I'm…well, superior to ordinary people."
Tasha looked up from the book she was reading. "What made you think that? Amy, I don't care what you are. You're my bestfriend and that's the only thing that counts."
"I know that, but…well, I dunno. I guess I'm just being paranoid." Amy muttered, a distant look in her eyes.
Tasha looked at her bestfriend curiously. Amy had never been like this before. Tasha thinks Amy should be grateful for being physically and intellectually superior to ordinary people. If Amy was upset for being different…well, she sure never showed it. That is, not until now.
"Amy, you know, I don't feel weird at all being friends with you. If anything, I feel special." Tasha reassured her.
Amy seemed to perk up at this. She smiled. "Thanks, Tasha."
"Of course, I'm sure Eric feels special too. Maybe even extra special, since he's your boyfriend." Tasha teased.
Amy grinned. Eric was Tasha's brother. And, like Tasha, he'd been really close to Amy, despite the fact that Amy was different. And he sincerely cares about her, which is something Amy couldn't say about most of the people in her life.
"Tasha…I'm sorry if you often get involved in my problems…" Amy started.
"Amy, it's okay." Tasha said softly. "Stop worrying about it."
Amy looked hesitant, but she stayed quiet.
Tasha suddenly wondered why Amy suddenly felt like this. True, Amy had been in a lot of troubles, with the organization. But that's because the organization wanted to capture Amy and use her superior genetic structure to take over the world. And Amy certainly can't let that happen.
But Tasha really never minded the fact that by helping Amy, she's actually putting her own life into danger. In fact, she never really thought about it that way. Before, all she worried about was Amy, and how to protect Amy from the organization and many others like them.
Tasha sighed. Why was she thinking all this? It's not like Amy was in any kind of danger. What was the point of all this worrying?
Tasha decided to change the subject. "I think we better get home, Amy. It's getting late."
Amy nodded absently.
They walked around the block to their houses, which happened to be right beside each other.
"You want to hang at my house for a while?" Amy asked. "I really don't have anything to do."
Tasha shrugged. "Sure."
They went in, heading straight to the den. To their surprise, someone was there. And both Amy and Tasha knew who the person is.
"Mary!" Amy exclaimed, her hand automatically clutching the pendant of the necklace Dr. Jaleski had given her before he died. It was a crescent moon, it always reminded of who she is, a clone.
Mary smiled when she saw Amy. "Hi, Amy. It's been a long time."
Amy nodded, wondering what Mary was doing here.
Mary nodded solemnly. "You must be wondering what brought me here."
"Yes. Is something wrong?" Amy asked worriedly.
Mary's solemn expression was suddenly replaced with a smile. "Oh no, nothing like that. It's because of my job. I'm going to be working here for a couple of months or so. Anyway, I decided visit you guys. You know, to see if everything's okay…"
Amy smiled. "Everything's fine, Mary. Thank you, anyway."
"Well, I'm sure glad to hear that. Anyway, I'm staying in a hotel nearby. If anything went wrong, you can call me."
"Oh, that's ok." Amy wondered why Mary was suddenly so concerned about her. It's not like there was any recent encounters with the organization. There was absolutely nothing that could have caused Mary to worry. At least, not to Amy's knowledge. Just then, she saw her mother coming into the den. "Hi, mom."
Nancy Candler barely glanced at her and Tasha. "Oh, hi kids." She turned to Mary. "Would you like something to drink?"
"Oh, don't bother. I'm going to be leaving soon." Mary sighed warily. "I'm going to have a very busy schedule in the next few weeks. This is probably my only chance to visit you. I'm glad everything's fine."
Nancy gazed at Mary for a moment. "Yes. Of course."
Amy was good in reading people's expressions. But she can't quite place the look on her mother's face.
Mary stood up. "Well, I better get going. Nice talking to you guys."
Nancy led her to the door. "Mary, can you give me a number where I can reach you?"
"Oh, yes, of course. Here." Mary handed Nancy a card.
Amy wondered why this was necessary. As far as she knows, nothing was wrong. Nothing to be worried about. She couldn't find any reason why it would be necessary to take Mary's number. Of course, her mother was probably just trying to keep in touch, as she would with her other close friends. But Nancy and Mary hardly know each other.
Mary looked back at the girls. "Well, bye Amy, Tasha. Take care of yourselves."
Amy and Tasha nodded almost at the same time. They both watched as Mary went out and got into her car.
"Well, she sure looked worried about you, Amy. I wonder why?" Tasha suddenly commented.
Amy realized that Tasha had been quiet the whole time Mary was here. Amy thought about Tasha's remark. "Maybe because of all those things that had happened…you know. Dr. Jaleski's death…the organization…there's actually a lot to worry about. When you think about it."
"I still don't see why she suddenly appeared here in Parkside." Tasha insisted.
"It's because of her job." Amy reminded her.
"What a coincidence." Tasha remarked. "Her job happened to send her here."
It didn't take Amy long to get what Tasha was implying. Tasha was suspicious, that much was obvious. Amy is a bit suspicious too. But she's quite certain that she could trust Mary. After all, she knows Mary. Besides, Mary is Dr. Jaleski's daughter. And Dr. Jaleski had been very kind to her. He had risked his life in order to save hers.
"I'm sure there's nothing to worry about, Tasha." Amy assured Tasha, though Amy had her own doubts too.
"You never know." Tasha insisted, seeming to be deep in thought.
If Amy had only known how right Tasha was.