Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.
Winston Churchill
JENNIE
My jaw drops at the sight of the pair in front of us. Lisa and I are in her penthouse, surrounded by her security team. All twenty-six of them. In front of us are a man and a woman that look just like Lisa and I. Sure, there are some noticeable differences, but from afar, no one will be able to tell us apart.
I study my female doppelganger. She looks like me, but not quite. Whereas my chest is fuller and I'm a little taller, she's far paler than I am. She's also missing a lot of hair and has eyes that are dim and sunken in.
Lisa's double is the same height as her, but the double's eyes are lighter, her hair is blonde, and her ears aren't quite right either. She's also wearing thick reading glasses and is bouncing around the room like she's tweaked out of her mind. Yet, when I caught sight of her pupils, they looked fairly normal.
When the two are ushered to a team of stylists, I pull Lisa aside. "Do they know what you're asking of them?"
I try not to blush as Lisa studies my face. We almost died together, and she used her body to shield mine. I don't care that she was wearing a bulletproof suit. It was still incredibly brave, an act of bravery I never in a million years would have imagined someone doing for me.
The few lingering concerns I had about Lisa evaporated after that. In its place is respect. I respect Lisa for the kind of person she is to me. Respecting a person I find attractive is dangerous territory.
If I'm not careful, I might begin to blur the lines in this relationship. I'm already far more aware of her body than I've ever been, struggling to come up with valid reasons for not pursuing someone that would risk her life for mine. It doesn't help that I know what it feels like to be kissed by her.
Lisa sighs. "They know the risks. Damien is an adrenaline junkie. She gets off on this shit. Caroline has cancer. She's dying. She can't do anything about it, but the two million dollars I'm paying her will go a long way in helping the family she's leaving behind."
My eyes widen.
Two million dollars?!
Is that how much a life is worth?
Is it how much her life is worth or mine?
Or is the figure somewhere in between?
I nod to Lisa. I can't judge her for this. Like always, she's right. Caroline and Damien know what they're doing. She's not tricking them or anything like that. Still, a part of me can't grasp the fact that they're about to risk their lives for us.
"Hey. Come with me," Lisa says gently.
She leads me upstairs into our room. Once the door is closed, she backs me up into the wall, her hands pressed on either side of my face. I let her, because I need the comfort right now. I need to know that what we're doing isn't wrong and immoral.
Her brown eyes stare into mine, searching for something, though I'm not sure what. "Don't feel bad about this. It's their decision to make. We're not forcing them to do anything, okay?"
It's hard to process what she's saying when we're in such an intimate position, but I know this is important. This needs to be said.
"I just… I can't help but feel like I should be doing this. Not Caroline."
"Don't." The harshness in her voice is shocking. "Don't even think about it, Jennie. Between your life and hers, yours is the one that matters. Every. Single. Time."
"Because she's dying?"
"Because you're mine."
My eyes widen, and I instinctively take a step back from her, but I'm already trapped against the wall. I study her, trying to decipher what she means by that. Her eyes are guarded, and I can't read them, so I'm left drawing my own conclusions.
And my emotions are at war with logic.
If I'm her's, is she mine?
Stop what you're thinking.
I can't help it.
She doesn't mean it like that.
But what if she does?
You're not actually her's.
She just told me I am.
This isn't real.
It feels so damn real to me.
I release a shaky breath. "You can't just say stuff like that."
"I can't?" There's amusement in her eyes.
"It's confusing."
Like when you go out of your way to help me with school.
And slip into bed with me because I'm having a nightmare.
And step in front of a bullet for me.
And defend me against Krystal.
And whisper in my ear that you'll do anything for the ones you love.
Her eyes drop to my lips, and she opens her mouth to say something, but something in my face makes her stop. Instead, she nods and takes a step back from me. Lisa leads me downstairs, where her security team is waiting.
They're going over the plan again, so I leave them alone, entering the kitchen for a bottle of water. I don't need a recap. My part of the plan is pretty simple anyways. I just have to stay here with Lisa, Mino and a few other guards while Caroline and Damien go out in public, pretending to be us.
I remember my conversation with Lisa earlier.
"It's a Cold Charlie. You put your helmet on the end of your sniper rifle. Someone takes a shot, and you flush them out. Then, you take the shot. It's a Cold Charlie."
"American Sniper? That's just a movie, Lisa."
"And a book, but that doesn't make it any less true."
We're trying to draw out any more shooters, so we know which one of us they're targeting. If Caroline and Damien stay realistically close but far enough apart that a shot will hit the intended target, we'll know who they're after.
Lisa has a private detective tracking down who hired the shooter. So, until she figures that out, the best we can do is figure out which one of us is the intended target. And apparently, the quickest way to do that is to lure the shooters out.
Lisa's team has already made a route for our doppelgangers to take. Most of Lisa's guards will be following them discreetly, hoping to capture the new shooters. Meanwhile, three guards will stay in the security room with me along with Mino and Lisa's personal guard. We'll monitor the situation from there, using live high definition footage from the miniature body cameras attached on all the guards, Damien and Caroline.
When I approach Lisa, she reaches behind her and sticks a finger in my belt loop, tugging until I'm beside her. It's an intimate gesture, but it's not an unexpected one. Since the shooting a few days ago, we've been more aware of each other.
Even though I have Mino, Lisa has barely left my side. She even went to lecture with me a few times this week. Whenever we went, Lisa always dressed in black jogger sweats and a black hoodie to keep a low profile. We would sit in the dark back corners of the class, hidden from view, while I'd try and fail to pay attention to the professors.
To be fair, Lisa in a suit is sexy as sin, but Lisa in sweats and a hoodie? I'm more likely to go to Heaven than find someone hotter than her.
"We're still waiting on hair and makeup," Lisa tells me.
I eye the group, noting that there's a rooster person missing. "Where's Rosé?"
"This is need to know. Only security personnel and my family know."
And me.
I have to ask, "Are you sure this isn't mob related?"
"I'm not in the mob anymore, Jennie."
Yet she asked Vincent Romano for these doubles, and Vince delivered them in record time. How does one even find a look-a-like so quickly?
"Mmhmm," I say, shrugging, but it's clear I don't believe Lisa.
Her finger unhooks from my jeans, and she takes a step to the side, putting more distance between the two of us.
I already miss her touch.
"This is surreal," I say, looking at the screen in awe.
Lisa's outside the room, while I'm in the security room with Mino, Lisa's personal guard and the newbie guard, who I suppose isn't a newbie anymore. We're looking at the screen, where Caroline and Damien are walking into a boutique on 5th Avenue. They have their hands linked together and look like a happy couple.
They're dressed in our bulletproof clothes, though the two don't know they're bulletproof. That's apparently only divulged on a need-to-know basis "for security reasons." I swear, if I hear "for security reasons" one more time, I'll give them a reason for security.
Instead of telling them about the bulletproof fabric, Lisa gave Damien and Caroline super thin bulletproof vests to go under their clothes, even though they don't need the extra layer of protection. Dare Devil Damien didn't seem to care, but Caroline was shaking like a leaf before she left, and the vest is doing wonders to ease her nerves.
I watch as Caroline picks up a dress and holds it against her body, pretending to see whether or not it looks nice on her. The fabric covers her body camera. We still have about eleven cameras on her and twelve on Damien, thanks to the guards trailing both of them.
I still can't believe the resemblances between me and Caroline and Lisa and Damien. Though it took almost two hours, the hair and makeup team did wonders with the prosthetic nose and chin they attached onto Caroline's face. They also gave her a handmade wig that's identical to my hair and looks unbelievably real. With a push up bra and sunglasses on, she looks just like me.
Damien looks pretty darn close to Lisa, too. The prosthetics helped fix the differences in their ears. She was given contacts, a haircut, and some hair dye. She also has some makeup on to even her tan. In Lisa's suit, she bears an uncanny resemblance to her.
Vince did a great job in picking these two out. I wonder how he did it. Is there an underground search engine for this type of scenario? Like Google for the damned and deranged? I picture his internet search history in my head.
Browser History
/search=howtodumpabody/
/search=howtoconjureadoppelganger/
/search=howtotalkinabadassvoicelikeBatman/
/search=soisheintomeornot/
/search=OhshitIthinkIlikeherwhatdoIdofuckfuckfuck/
Okay, the last couple searches might be what my search history looks like.
And assuming that Vince gets his internet advice from the Devil isn't fair.
Vince, Bastian, and Lisa—the only mobsters I actually know—have been really nice to me. I'm just suffering from second hand bitchiness, courtesy of Rosé, who called Lisa a few minutes ago and demanded to know where she is and why it's not on her schedule. She's still outside the security room, talking to her when she should be in here.
On the screen, Caroline grabs a random scarf from the rack and purchases it. After it's bagged, they head outside again. This is the part that makes me tensest. Caroline and Damien are exposed, and anything can happen to them out in the open.
This is probably the fifteenth store they've been into, and they're running out of hands to carry bags. If something is going to happen, it has to happen now. Caroline and Damien can't keep shopping forever. They have to stop eventually, and it's almost that time.
I lean against Lisa as soon as I sense her settling beside me. The contact eases my tension, and I revel in the feel of her thumb brushing against my arm. We watch together as Caroline and Damien leave the sidewalk and cross the street.
When they reach the middle of the crosswalk, we lose sight of them on the monitors briefly, the crowded New York street covering their exit. I'm waiting patiently for the streets to clear when a single shot goes off. Lisa and I lean forward at the same time, our eyes scanning all the monitors, trying to find one with a clear view of Caroline and Damien, but there isn't one.
There's only chaos everywhere, as the pedestrians scramble, running in every direction.
I can't tell whose audio it's coming from, but I hear someone shout, "Terrorist attack!"
It only makes the chaos worse.
But then I see it, a little gap in the crowd. There's a body on the ground, and I'm stunned to realize that it's Caroline's. She's lying there on the ground, her arms clutching her stomach over her bulletproof dress.
The evidence is there, right before my eyes, yet I can hardly believe it.
I'm the target.