"I'm dead, Michael." Emily was pacing the floor of the townhouse as if she was passionately trying to wear through the floor. "I am so dead."
"Not necessarily," Michael said from where he was seated at a table next to the pool. He had intended to sound much more confident.
She sat down next to him. "Dr. Morris didn't say a word to me the whole way back here. I'm assuming that's not a good thing, right?"
"Well, no," Michael said reluctantly.
Emily sighed. "So, what do I do now?"
"Did you really tell Daniel?"
Emily looked down at her hands. "I started to. I probably would have if I hadn't kissed him instead."
"He doesn't know?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Okay, then. Tell the Doc that."
"I did."
"And?"
"He didn't say anything, just kinda nodded and looked away." Emily stopped, thinking. "He looked more disappointed than mad. Did you notice that?"
Michael nodded and began to scan the ceiling, absently searching for the hidden camera he knew was there.
"Michael?"
Michael looked back at her. Fear covered her perfectly formed face. "Yeah?"
"What is he going to do?"
Michael furrowed his brow and shook his head. He didn't know what to say to ease the panic he saw in her eyes. She knew *something* was going to happen. He did, too. Neither, however, knew what that something would be.
Emily stood and walked unhurriedly over to the pool. She dove in, clothes and all. Michael stood and watched. She resurfaced and began floating on her back. He was about to leave her alone for a while, when she called, "You wanna play cards?"
"What?" Michael turned around and raised his eyebrows.
Emily stepped out of the pool and began wrapping herself in a towel from the rack nearby. "Just give me a minute to change, and we'll play cards. What do you know how to play? I figure there's no sense in moping around all evening." She walked toward the bedroom.
"Hold on. Back the conversation up." Michael stepped in front of her and held up a hand. She stopped and waited patiently for him to speak. He collected his thoughts and then asked, "Since when do you have a deck of cards?"
"Since we went by my house," Emily explained calmly. "I grabbed a deck and some pictures along with the cookbook while we were there,"
"So, that's why you were in your bedroom?" he asked.
"Yes. Now are you going to let me get changed?" Emily said, her hands on her hips and her mouth forming a playful smile.
Michael still saw the anxiety hiding behind her happy expression. He stepped out of her way and smiled back. He put his hand on her wet shoulder and said reassuringly, "Everything's going to be okay." He hesitated. "We'll make it okay." Emily nodded slowly and left the room.
* * *
"What is the plan now, sir?" Special Agent Number One asked Dr. Morris, who sat next to him at a large empty table.
"We wait for the senators to get here," the doctor said matter-of-factly.
"What I meant was: what are we going to do about Mrs. Hanson's misbehavior?"
Dr. Morris opened his mouth to answer, when three senators entered the room. He and the agent stood. "Senators, I appreciate you all meeting with us on such short notice," the doctor greeted them formally, while shaking each hand.
"You are welcome, Dr. Morris. It will be to our advantage, I am sure," one senator said on behalf of the group as they all sat down at the table just to the left of the doctor. "Now, let's get this business done."
"We understand that our newest addition has violated the rules surrounding the program," a second senator stated.
Special Agent Number One passed him a folder. "You'll find a summary of the events which took place in that folder. Of course, we can only make our best guess as to what actually occurred since no one witnessed the entire misdeed. We consulted with Mrs. Hanson to hear her story, and spoke very briefly to Mr. Hanson about it."
A senator's eyes widened. "What did you tell this Mr. Hanson?"
"We assured him that she was an escapee from a mental hospital nearby and that we were there to take her back. However, he did not seem satisfied with our story," the agent responded. The senators looked through the folder one by one as Dr. Morris
and Special Agent Number One sat quietly.
After they had all skimmed over the information, the senator just to the left of the doctor spoke up, "What action do you plan on taking, Dr. Morris?"
Dr. Morris cleared his throat, "Being the major benefactors to this project, that is what you were called here to decide. I have my opinions, but first, what are your suggestions?"
"It would be a waste to destroy the woman so soon. I mean, she
has only been functional for a couple days," the third senator said. "We have not even been able to experiment with the reproduction of two
artificial humans yet - which was our main goal in creating the woman,
was it not?" The other senators nodded. They turned to the doctor to see if he was in agreement.
"That was one of our goals. Yes." Dr. Morris spoke cautiously. He did not want to have to explain why he had not encouraged the issue of reproduction with the two prototypes yet. He especially did not want to explain why he had supplied Emily with a sleeping bag. He was not quite sure himself. He felt that he must be going soft, and he *couldn't* let that happen.
To his relief, the senators overlooked his slight unease. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to let this act of
disobedience go unpunished," a senator added strongly.
"If we don't want to destroy Mrs. Hanson's brain and we don't
want to do nothing, then what other option do we have?" another senator
asked.
Special Agent Number One spoke up. "There is one option that we have not yet discussed." The senators looked at him and waited. Dr. Morris looked surprised. The agent crossed his arms over his chest. "We could destroy her family. Then we would never have this problem again."
Dr. Morris looked at him sternly. "We cannot just kill three innocent people."
"Now, Dr. Morris, it *would* solve our dilemma," the first
senator said. "It would give her and the other prototype a severe
warning, and it would let them know that we mean business."
"Yes," the second agreed, "Then maybe we would not have so much trouble with either of them breaking out."
The third senator was silent, thinking. Finally, he spoke."While I agree that this seems to be the best option, we have to proceed with great caution. The deaths must look completely unsuspicious." The others nodded.
"Gentlemen," Dr. Morris said forcefully, "I must say that I disagree with this course of action. You will be killing three innocent people, none of whom actually know about our program. Not to mention that two of these three are children!" He paused looking at each of them. "If you do this you will be nothing but three cold-blooded murderers!" The doctor's eyes were full of indignation and rage. "I refuse to be a part of it!"
The senators sat, a little stunned. The first, who held the folder, closed it, handed it to the doctor, and stood. "We would not want to make you a part of murder, now would we?" he said with a calm anger. "Therefore, this case is no longer yours. We will do what we think is best, and you will not have a guilty conscience." He walked stiffly out of the room and the other two followed.
Special Agent Number One stood and began to leave as well. "Are you coming, sir?" he asked.
Dr. Morris sat, concentrating on a spot of the wall across the room. "I'll be along later." The agent nodded and left the room. Dr. Morris sat silently. "Damn!" he yelled suddenly in disgust. He stood and threw the folder, scattering papers everywhere. Then he placed his hands flat on the table and leaned against them. In front of him lay the paper from the folder with the family picture of the Hanson's before Emily's 'death'. He stared intensely at it, deep in
thought.
* * *
Michael stared at his cards intently, stopping only to look up at Emily. He was sitting across from her at the table next to the pool. He couldn't read the half smirk that teased her face. She could tell he was in trouble, but he couldn't tell one thing about her. "Give me three," he said, handing her three cards.
"Ok." She took the top three cards and handed them to him. "Dealer takes two," she added, taking the next two cards and studying them.
He stared her down again. "This is going to separate the men from the girls."
She laughed. "And why is that?"
"If you lose, your shirt comes off. If I lose, my pants come off." He wriggled his eyebrows at her.
"Enough dramatics. Let's just do this."
He laid down his cards. "Two pair."
She pouted, and Michael almost thought he had won. "I only have..." She paused for effect. "A full house." She lay her cards face up in front of him. Her half smirk turned into a complete smirk and took over her pretty face. "Take 'em off."
Michael's mouth gaped open. "I can't believe I let you talk me into strip poker," he grumbled, standing up.
"You know you're having fun! And besides, you suggested it."
"I know. I know," he said sheepishly. "It has been fun, and I did suggest it."
"You were just hoping to see this whole perfectly engineered body of mine, weren't ya? You didn't think I'd be a poker player, right?" She chuckled. "Did I forget to tell you I worked at a casino for two years while I was in college?"
Michael smiled uncomfortably. She sat in front of him fully clothed, and he had already shedded his shirt, undershirt, shoes, and socks. He wondered if she actually expected him to take off his pants.
"Go on," she urged, answering his question. He began to unbuckle and unzip his pants.
"Mr. Wiseman!" Dr. Morris walked in, shielding his eyes.
"Saved by the doctor," Michael breathed a sigh of relief. He zipped back up.
"I don't even want to know what you two were doing." Dr. Morris silently hoped that it was what it looked like, for the sake of the program.
Emily was hurriedly putting up the cards so Dr. Morris couldn't take them away. She smiled innocently.
"It's about dinnertime, Mrs. Hanson. Are you planning on using your cookbook and preparing us a healthy feast?" Dr. Morris tried to look pleasant.
Emily raised one eyebrow. "You still want me to?"
"Of course." Dr. Morris smiled oddly. Michael and Emily looked at each other. Their suspicion showed, but they didn't say anything about it.
"Okay," Emily said warily, "I'd better get working on it then." She walked slowly to the kitchen.
After she had left, Michael spoke up. "So, Doc, what's going on?"
"Mr. Wiseman," Dr. Morris responded reluctantly, "who says anything is going on?" He was trying to sound innocent and was failing miserably.
"Something is going on all right," Michael said, pointing a finger at the doctor's face. "You need to work on your acting, Doc. Just tell me."
"Mr. Wiseman, please get dressed." The doctor gestured to his shirts, shoes, and socks, which lay in disarray around the table.
Michael complied, but continued to pursue the subject. "I mean it, Doc. Both of us know that something is going on. It's obvious." Dr. Morris was ignoring him, pretending to be interested in the condition of the exercise equipment in the room. "She did tell you that her husband doesn't know. It was an innocent kiss, the same as when I kissed my wife in the subway." Dr. Morris still didn't respond.
"Fine!" Michael finally said. "Keep your secret, but I'm on her side in this the whole way. If you do anything to her, you'll have to go through me first."
"And why do you care about her so much, Mr. Wiseman?" The doctor spoke up, startling Michael. "You've only known her a couple days."
"Doc, I know exactly what she's going through. I've been through it, too. I can empathize with her because I've been there. She's the one person in the world I can talk to as a...a friend." He smiled. "Besides, she plays a mean game of poker and she's gonna cook me something edible!"
Dr. Morris looked straight at him. "I knew this would be trouble. If I had my way she would never have been in the same townhouse as you. You would be as far apart as possible, having never even met. But do I get my way?" He shook his head and said crisply, "No! The people who pay for this project have the authority to do whatever they want in this case. There is nothing you or she or I can do about it. *That* is what is going on here! Understand?"
Michael stepped back and sat down to begin putting on his shoes. "No," he said honestly.
Dr. Morris shook his head and let out a long and intense breath. "I will be back in time for dinner. Do your exercises."
"Sure thing, Doc," Michael lied.
"Good-bye, Mr. Wiseman."
* * *
"I can't tell you 'thank you' enough for that feast last night, Emily," Michael said, rubbing his stomach. "Doc, didn't you think it was great?"
"Marvelous," Dr. Morris said a little less than enthusiastically from beneath his paper, which he had not gotten around to reading until now. He had seemed quite grumpy ever since he had woken them up extra late that morning for some unexplained reason. Now it was getting towards the evening hours, and he was taking them on some mysterious mission.
Emily smiled. "It was my pleasure. I'll have to try some other recipes, too. I found quite a few that would fit the diet. I'll use one of those when we get back to the townhouse. We will get back in time for dinner, right?"
"Whether we do or not, I'm not sure I'll need any further help in the kitchen, Mrs. Hanson," the doctor said coldly. Emily took the hint and sat back, defeated.
"So, where are we headed today, Doc?" Michael said, trying to ease the heavy tension in the limousine.
"Apparently, a great amount of extremely expensive jewelry has been stolen from a jewelry store in town and we have been hired to retrieve the stolen valuables."
"Is the government that bad off that they have to hire out its secret weapons for some extra cash?" Michael asked the doctor. His question was left unanswered, but Michael wasn't fazed. "And I'm
willing to bet my breakfast for a week that neither I nor Emily will see a bit of the money. Am I right, or am I going to have to forfeit my morning gruel for seven days?"
The question hung in mid-air momentarily. "Hopefully, the latter," Emily answered. "I could always use some extra funds." She paused. "Not that I would have anything to use it on, come to think of it. Anyways, I'm sure you wouldn't miss that lovely morning meal." Her sarcasm made Michael chuckle.
Dr. Morris peered at Michael with annoyance over the top of the paper. He went back to his paper for a few minutes in which an almost normal lull in the conversation occurred. Abruptly, he spoke, "Ah, here's the article in the paper about the heist." He showed the picture of the stolen jewels to the two.
Emily glanced at the pure gold necklace with diamonds, but her eyes fell on the article below the burglary. Her breath caught.
"Wow," Michael said, "that's some necklace!"
Emily looked at him and then back at the paper. She read the headline of the article below the jewelry picture out loud. "Three killed in a fire of unknown origin," she said looking at Dr. Morris momentarily and then grabbing the paper out of his hands.
She started reading the article aloud. "The house of Mr. Daniel Hanson burned to the ground last night, killing
both him and his two adopted ch--" She stopped, and put her head in her hands to hold back the tears. Dr. Morris's eyes widened. He hadn't thought the senators would be that swift in executing their plan.
Michael took the paper from Emily and picked up where she left off. "Neighbors next door noticed the flames and called the fire department. By the time firefighters arrived, the house had begun to collapse. The three inhabitants were found dead not long after the fire was put out. Local police are investigating the cause of the fire with few leads as of yet. Some evidence has brought them to the conclusion that Mr. Hanson and his children were dead even before the fire started and that the fire was no accident. 'It was probably the way the murderer covered his tracks,' the chief of police commented, 'However, we have no proof, and we don't plan on stopping until we get some answers.'" Michael stuffed the paper in the doctor's hands and glared at him.
Emily looked up. "This is a long shot, but you had something to do with this, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you are talking about, Mrs. Hanson," Dr. Morris said as he folded the paper.
"C'mon, Doc!" Michael chimed in, "As I said before, you need to work on your acting."
"I had nothing to do with the fire or the deaths."
"You knew about it," Emily concluded. The doctor didn't respond. "I'm guessing you also planned it."
"No," Dr. Morris said quickly.
"Then who did?" Michael asked.
"It was out of my hands." He held up his hands palm up in a gesture of his innocence.
"Uh-huh," Emily said suspiciously and added in an edgy tone, "Listen to me, dear doctor. If I don't hear the truth and if I don't hear it *now*--" Her face was now only a few inches from his.
"I've told you the truth." Dr. Morris growled. "I had nothing to do with this. It was handled by those higher up." Emily continued to glare at him and weighed in her mind whether what he said was worth believing. Dr. Morris glared back and lowered his eyebrows and spoke in a harsh whisper, "Mrs. Hanson, you will *not* speak another word about this. Take this recent event as your punishment for your misbehavior yesterday."
The limousine came to a stop at a light. Emily took the opportunity to quickly open the door and climb out. "Good-bye," she said softly. Then she turned and ran.
Michael didn't miss a beat as he stepped out of the open door after her. He leaned his head back in and looked at Dr. Morris. "I want you to know that I am not going after her for you." He wasted no time observing the doctor's response; he just ran in the direction Emily had gone.
"Not necessarily," Michael said from where he was seated at a table next to the pool. He had intended to sound much more confident.
She sat down next to him. "Dr. Morris didn't say a word to me the whole way back here. I'm assuming that's not a good thing, right?"
"Well, no," Michael said reluctantly.
Emily sighed. "So, what do I do now?"
"Did you really tell Daniel?"
Emily looked down at her hands. "I started to. I probably would have if I hadn't kissed him instead."
"He doesn't know?"
She shook her head. "I don't think so."
"Okay, then. Tell the Doc that."
"I did."
"And?"
"He didn't say anything, just kinda nodded and looked away." Emily stopped, thinking. "He looked more disappointed than mad. Did you notice that?"
Michael nodded and began to scan the ceiling, absently searching for the hidden camera he knew was there.
"Michael?"
Michael looked back at her. Fear covered her perfectly formed face. "Yeah?"
"What is he going to do?"
Michael furrowed his brow and shook his head. He didn't know what to say to ease the panic he saw in her eyes. She knew *something* was going to happen. He did, too. Neither, however, knew what that something would be.
Emily stood and walked unhurriedly over to the pool. She dove in, clothes and all. Michael stood and watched. She resurfaced and began floating on her back. He was about to leave her alone for a while, when she called, "You wanna play cards?"
"What?" Michael turned around and raised his eyebrows.
Emily stepped out of the pool and began wrapping herself in a towel from the rack nearby. "Just give me a minute to change, and we'll play cards. What do you know how to play? I figure there's no sense in moping around all evening." She walked toward the bedroom.
"Hold on. Back the conversation up." Michael stepped in front of her and held up a hand. She stopped and waited patiently for him to speak. He collected his thoughts and then asked, "Since when do you have a deck of cards?"
"Since we went by my house," Emily explained calmly. "I grabbed a deck and some pictures along with the cookbook while we were there,"
"So, that's why you were in your bedroom?" he asked.
"Yes. Now are you going to let me get changed?" Emily said, her hands on her hips and her mouth forming a playful smile.
Michael still saw the anxiety hiding behind her happy expression. He stepped out of her way and smiled back. He put his hand on her wet shoulder and said reassuringly, "Everything's going to be okay." He hesitated. "We'll make it okay." Emily nodded slowly and left the room.
* * *
"What is the plan now, sir?" Special Agent Number One asked Dr. Morris, who sat next to him at a large empty table.
"We wait for the senators to get here," the doctor said matter-of-factly.
"What I meant was: what are we going to do about Mrs. Hanson's misbehavior?"
Dr. Morris opened his mouth to answer, when three senators entered the room. He and the agent stood. "Senators, I appreciate you all meeting with us on such short notice," the doctor greeted them formally, while shaking each hand.
"You are welcome, Dr. Morris. It will be to our advantage, I am sure," one senator said on behalf of the group as they all sat down at the table just to the left of the doctor. "Now, let's get this business done."
"We understand that our newest addition has violated the rules surrounding the program," a second senator stated.
Special Agent Number One passed him a folder. "You'll find a summary of the events which took place in that folder. Of course, we can only make our best guess as to what actually occurred since no one witnessed the entire misdeed. We consulted with Mrs. Hanson to hear her story, and spoke very briefly to Mr. Hanson about it."
A senator's eyes widened. "What did you tell this Mr. Hanson?"
"We assured him that she was an escapee from a mental hospital nearby and that we were there to take her back. However, he did not seem satisfied with our story," the agent responded. The senators looked through the folder one by one as Dr. Morris
and Special Agent Number One sat quietly.
After they had all skimmed over the information, the senator just to the left of the doctor spoke up, "What action do you plan on taking, Dr. Morris?"
Dr. Morris cleared his throat, "Being the major benefactors to this project, that is what you were called here to decide. I have my opinions, but first, what are your suggestions?"
"It would be a waste to destroy the woman so soon. I mean, she
has only been functional for a couple days," the third senator said. "We have not even been able to experiment with the reproduction of two
artificial humans yet - which was our main goal in creating the woman,
was it not?" The other senators nodded. They turned to the doctor to see if he was in agreement.
"That was one of our goals. Yes." Dr. Morris spoke cautiously. He did not want to have to explain why he had not encouraged the issue of reproduction with the two prototypes yet. He especially did not want to explain why he had supplied Emily with a sleeping bag. He was not quite sure himself. He felt that he must be going soft, and he *couldn't* let that happen.
To his relief, the senators overlooked his slight unease. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want to let this act of
disobedience go unpunished," a senator added strongly.
"If we don't want to destroy Mrs. Hanson's brain and we don't
want to do nothing, then what other option do we have?" another senator
asked.
Special Agent Number One spoke up. "There is one option that we have not yet discussed." The senators looked at him and waited. Dr. Morris looked surprised. The agent crossed his arms over his chest. "We could destroy her family. Then we would never have this problem again."
Dr. Morris looked at him sternly. "We cannot just kill three innocent people."
"Now, Dr. Morris, it *would* solve our dilemma," the first
senator said. "It would give her and the other prototype a severe
warning, and it would let them know that we mean business."
"Yes," the second agreed, "Then maybe we would not have so much trouble with either of them breaking out."
The third senator was silent, thinking. Finally, he spoke."While I agree that this seems to be the best option, we have to proceed with great caution. The deaths must look completely unsuspicious." The others nodded.
"Gentlemen," Dr. Morris said forcefully, "I must say that I disagree with this course of action. You will be killing three innocent people, none of whom actually know about our program. Not to mention that two of these three are children!" He paused looking at each of them. "If you do this you will be nothing but three cold-blooded murderers!" The doctor's eyes were full of indignation and rage. "I refuse to be a part of it!"
The senators sat, a little stunned. The first, who held the folder, closed it, handed it to the doctor, and stood. "We would not want to make you a part of murder, now would we?" he said with a calm anger. "Therefore, this case is no longer yours. We will do what we think is best, and you will not have a guilty conscience." He walked stiffly out of the room and the other two followed.
Special Agent Number One stood and began to leave as well. "Are you coming, sir?" he asked.
Dr. Morris sat, concentrating on a spot of the wall across the room. "I'll be along later." The agent nodded and left the room. Dr. Morris sat silently. "Damn!" he yelled suddenly in disgust. He stood and threw the folder, scattering papers everywhere. Then he placed his hands flat on the table and leaned against them. In front of him lay the paper from the folder with the family picture of the Hanson's before Emily's 'death'. He stared intensely at it, deep in
thought.
* * *
Michael stared at his cards intently, stopping only to look up at Emily. He was sitting across from her at the table next to the pool. He couldn't read the half smirk that teased her face. She could tell he was in trouble, but he couldn't tell one thing about her. "Give me three," he said, handing her three cards.
"Ok." She took the top three cards and handed them to him. "Dealer takes two," she added, taking the next two cards and studying them.
He stared her down again. "This is going to separate the men from the girls."
She laughed. "And why is that?"
"If you lose, your shirt comes off. If I lose, my pants come off." He wriggled his eyebrows at her.
"Enough dramatics. Let's just do this."
He laid down his cards. "Two pair."
She pouted, and Michael almost thought he had won. "I only have..." She paused for effect. "A full house." She lay her cards face up in front of him. Her half smirk turned into a complete smirk and took over her pretty face. "Take 'em off."
Michael's mouth gaped open. "I can't believe I let you talk me into strip poker," he grumbled, standing up.
"You know you're having fun! And besides, you suggested it."
"I know. I know," he said sheepishly. "It has been fun, and I did suggest it."
"You were just hoping to see this whole perfectly engineered body of mine, weren't ya? You didn't think I'd be a poker player, right?" She chuckled. "Did I forget to tell you I worked at a casino for two years while I was in college?"
Michael smiled uncomfortably. She sat in front of him fully clothed, and he had already shedded his shirt, undershirt, shoes, and socks. He wondered if she actually expected him to take off his pants.
"Go on," she urged, answering his question. He began to unbuckle and unzip his pants.
"Mr. Wiseman!" Dr. Morris walked in, shielding his eyes.
"Saved by the doctor," Michael breathed a sigh of relief. He zipped back up.
"I don't even want to know what you two were doing." Dr. Morris silently hoped that it was what it looked like, for the sake of the program.
Emily was hurriedly putting up the cards so Dr. Morris couldn't take them away. She smiled innocently.
"It's about dinnertime, Mrs. Hanson. Are you planning on using your cookbook and preparing us a healthy feast?" Dr. Morris tried to look pleasant.
Emily raised one eyebrow. "You still want me to?"
"Of course." Dr. Morris smiled oddly. Michael and Emily looked at each other. Their suspicion showed, but they didn't say anything about it.
"Okay," Emily said warily, "I'd better get working on it then." She walked slowly to the kitchen.
After she had left, Michael spoke up. "So, Doc, what's going on?"
"Mr. Wiseman," Dr. Morris responded reluctantly, "who says anything is going on?" He was trying to sound innocent and was failing miserably.
"Something is going on all right," Michael said, pointing a finger at the doctor's face. "You need to work on your acting, Doc. Just tell me."
"Mr. Wiseman, please get dressed." The doctor gestured to his shirts, shoes, and socks, which lay in disarray around the table.
Michael complied, but continued to pursue the subject. "I mean it, Doc. Both of us know that something is going on. It's obvious." Dr. Morris was ignoring him, pretending to be interested in the condition of the exercise equipment in the room. "She did tell you that her husband doesn't know. It was an innocent kiss, the same as when I kissed my wife in the subway." Dr. Morris still didn't respond.
"Fine!" Michael finally said. "Keep your secret, but I'm on her side in this the whole way. If you do anything to her, you'll have to go through me first."
"And why do you care about her so much, Mr. Wiseman?" The doctor spoke up, startling Michael. "You've only known her a couple days."
"Doc, I know exactly what she's going through. I've been through it, too. I can empathize with her because I've been there. She's the one person in the world I can talk to as a...a friend." He smiled. "Besides, she plays a mean game of poker and she's gonna cook me something edible!"
Dr. Morris looked straight at him. "I knew this would be trouble. If I had my way she would never have been in the same townhouse as you. You would be as far apart as possible, having never even met. But do I get my way?" He shook his head and said crisply, "No! The people who pay for this project have the authority to do whatever they want in this case. There is nothing you or she or I can do about it. *That* is what is going on here! Understand?"
Michael stepped back and sat down to begin putting on his shoes. "No," he said honestly.
Dr. Morris shook his head and let out a long and intense breath. "I will be back in time for dinner. Do your exercises."
"Sure thing, Doc," Michael lied.
"Good-bye, Mr. Wiseman."
* * *
"I can't tell you 'thank you' enough for that feast last night, Emily," Michael said, rubbing his stomach. "Doc, didn't you think it was great?"
"Marvelous," Dr. Morris said a little less than enthusiastically from beneath his paper, which he had not gotten around to reading until now. He had seemed quite grumpy ever since he had woken them up extra late that morning for some unexplained reason. Now it was getting towards the evening hours, and he was taking them on some mysterious mission.
Emily smiled. "It was my pleasure. I'll have to try some other recipes, too. I found quite a few that would fit the diet. I'll use one of those when we get back to the townhouse. We will get back in time for dinner, right?"
"Whether we do or not, I'm not sure I'll need any further help in the kitchen, Mrs. Hanson," the doctor said coldly. Emily took the hint and sat back, defeated.
"So, where are we headed today, Doc?" Michael said, trying to ease the heavy tension in the limousine.
"Apparently, a great amount of extremely expensive jewelry has been stolen from a jewelry store in town and we have been hired to retrieve the stolen valuables."
"Is the government that bad off that they have to hire out its secret weapons for some extra cash?" Michael asked the doctor. His question was left unanswered, but Michael wasn't fazed. "And I'm
willing to bet my breakfast for a week that neither I nor Emily will see a bit of the money. Am I right, or am I going to have to forfeit my morning gruel for seven days?"
The question hung in mid-air momentarily. "Hopefully, the latter," Emily answered. "I could always use some extra funds." She paused. "Not that I would have anything to use it on, come to think of it. Anyways, I'm sure you wouldn't miss that lovely morning meal." Her sarcasm made Michael chuckle.
Dr. Morris peered at Michael with annoyance over the top of the paper. He went back to his paper for a few minutes in which an almost normal lull in the conversation occurred. Abruptly, he spoke, "Ah, here's the article in the paper about the heist." He showed the picture of the stolen jewels to the two.
Emily glanced at the pure gold necklace with diamonds, but her eyes fell on the article below the burglary. Her breath caught.
"Wow," Michael said, "that's some necklace!"
Emily looked at him and then back at the paper. She read the headline of the article below the jewelry picture out loud. "Three killed in a fire of unknown origin," she said looking at Dr. Morris momentarily and then grabbing the paper out of his hands.
She started reading the article aloud. "The house of Mr. Daniel Hanson burned to the ground last night, killing
both him and his two adopted ch--" She stopped, and put her head in her hands to hold back the tears. Dr. Morris's eyes widened. He hadn't thought the senators would be that swift in executing their plan.
Michael took the paper from Emily and picked up where she left off. "Neighbors next door noticed the flames and called the fire department. By the time firefighters arrived, the house had begun to collapse. The three inhabitants were found dead not long after the fire was put out. Local police are investigating the cause of the fire with few leads as of yet. Some evidence has brought them to the conclusion that Mr. Hanson and his children were dead even before the fire started and that the fire was no accident. 'It was probably the way the murderer covered his tracks,' the chief of police commented, 'However, we have no proof, and we don't plan on stopping until we get some answers.'" Michael stuffed the paper in the doctor's hands and glared at him.
Emily looked up. "This is a long shot, but you had something to do with this, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you are talking about, Mrs. Hanson," Dr. Morris said as he folded the paper.
"C'mon, Doc!" Michael chimed in, "As I said before, you need to work on your acting."
"I had nothing to do with the fire or the deaths."
"You knew about it," Emily concluded. The doctor didn't respond. "I'm guessing you also planned it."
"No," Dr. Morris said quickly.
"Then who did?" Michael asked.
"It was out of my hands." He held up his hands palm up in a gesture of his innocence.
"Uh-huh," Emily said suspiciously and added in an edgy tone, "Listen to me, dear doctor. If I don't hear the truth and if I don't hear it *now*--" Her face was now only a few inches from his.
"I've told you the truth." Dr. Morris growled. "I had nothing to do with this. It was handled by those higher up." Emily continued to glare at him and weighed in her mind whether what he said was worth believing. Dr. Morris glared back and lowered his eyebrows and spoke in a harsh whisper, "Mrs. Hanson, you will *not* speak another word about this. Take this recent event as your punishment for your misbehavior yesterday."
The limousine came to a stop at a light. Emily took the opportunity to quickly open the door and climb out. "Good-bye," she said softly. Then she turned and ran.
Michael didn't miss a beat as he stepped out of the open door after her. He leaned his head back in and looked at Dr. Morris. "I want you to know that I am not going after her for you." He wasted no time observing the doctor's response; he just ran in the direction Emily had gone.
