– Chapter Twenty-Eight –
Three days passed with no more contact from Danielle. Rat told the others about the call, and everybody was on edge and wanted to be there for their sister. No one could reach out to her effectively, though. They were becoming more and more worried, but they knew there was no way to find out what was going on without risking exposing themselves to the press.
It seemed the clones didn't have to do much to find out what became of the skater, though. Early one morning, Katja walked out of her room. She was the first one up, having struggled to sleep most of the night anyway due to a number of coughing fits. She shuffled into the living room and booted up her laptop after tending to the dogs, and also switched on the television.
Danielle's face greeted her from the screen instantly. Katja couldn't understand to start with, since the news reporters were talking in French, but she assumed they were still discussing the disgraceful ice skating tournament and the confusing events surrounding it. Katja barely paid attention, instead focusing on her laptop and signing into Skype.
"Hallo crazy pan lady," she greeted Leigh, who was next to emerge that morning.
"Eh?" Leigh shot at her with a frown.
Katja shook her head dismissively. "Nozing."
"Right," Leigh said darkly. She boiled the kettle to make herself a cup of tea. "You feeling OK? I heard you last night."
"Sorry," Katja muttered.
"No, don't be sorry," Leigh told her sternly.
Katja watched her for a moment or two before looking back at the laptop. "I am doing better now. I vould like to see Aila today."
Leigh gave a brief nod and proceeded to make tea. She joined Katja at the table and watched the television curiously. "What the hell?" she whispered after a short while.
"Vat?" Katja asked, glancing over to the television.
The news media were now interviewing Kyle, who seemed to be avoiding them. He was very clearly upset though, trying to hold himself together as he reluctantly spoke to whoever was taking the interview.
Katja blinked, glancing at Leigh. When the news broadcast switched back to people sitting in a studio, everybody looked mournful as they spoke.
"I'm gonna go get Rat up. We need to know what the hell they're going on about," Leigh said, panicked. She stood to make her way towards the hacker's bedroom. The door opened before she could reach it though. Rat blinked as she saw Leigh standing there. She still looked half asleep, but she raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"We need you to come out here and translate the news for us. Something might have happened to Danielle," Leigh said, hoping that whatever it was, they were wrong and just misinterpreting the situation.
Rat stared at her for a moment, but sighed and nodded as she followed the hairdresser out into the living room. She stretched and flopped down on the sofa after grabbing a glass of water and greeting Katja. The hacker still looked tired, but focused her attention on what the news broadcaster was saying.
It only took reading the bulletins on the side to wake her up fully, her breath audibly hitching in her throat as she covered her mouth with a hand. The hacker looked horrified as she listened to what was being said.
"Oh God, no..." Rat whispered, paling even more.
"What happened?" Leigh asked quietly, almost afraid to find out.
Rat bit her lip hard, closing her eyes tightly. "Danielle's missing...and they...t-they have reason to suspect she...she might have actually committed suicide..." she said quietly, a rogue tear making its way down her face. "They found a note and her blood in her room, and nobody can find her. DAMNIT, I told her to come with us! Why the hell would she go and...and-"
Even the dogs were still and silent as Danielle's face flashed up again, and Rat, Katja and Leigh watched numbly as they stared. They knew that lack of proof could mean that she was alive, but the phone call Rat had handled left no clone feeling optimistic. All three of them were quiet for the rest of the day, each of them tired and grief-stricken by what had happened.
They weren't the only ones.
A few miles away, in the hospital, Aila watched the television in her room. She'd been staring at the clips of Danielle for the better part of an hour, and it didn't take much for the doctor to understand something wasn't right. Danielle was gone...she could feel it in her gut. She sighed, feeling guilty now for not accepting the French clone's apology.
But Aila was still here, and it occurred to her this latest story would confuse the hospital staff. Danielle couldn't be missing and be lying in bed with a broken arm at the same time. How was Aila going to explain this? The police were bound to be dragged into it. Aila would face consequences, surely. And she was still wanted for murder...
Aila jumped when a figure caught her eye. She looked around. A broad man dressed in a smart suit was standing by the door to her room; his unnerving stare fixed on her. He offered a cold smirk when Aila noticed him.
"Who the flamin' hell are you?!" Aila asked in a high voice. She worried briefly if this was the start of the truth coming out about her impersonating the famous skater.
"Daniel Rosen," the man introduced himself. Aila couldn't help flinching back a bit when Daniel approached the bed, his presence somehow threatening as he loomed over her. "I'm afraid we need to go on a little trip..."
The following morning, Leigh and Rat returned to the hospital while Katja stayed behind to watch the dogs. She was frustrated that she hadn't gotten to see Aila yet, but was determined to do so as soon as she was feeling better again.
Leigh sighed when she heard people whispering around them, not bringing herself to care as she caught Danielle's name. How could the famous skater have gone missing and maybe died, but yet be in the hospital, but yet be stood here? She knew nobody would have been able to make sense of it.
Leigh couldn't help feeling a strange mix of anger and sadness towards Danielle again for causing Aila to be hurt in the first place, though the French clone didn't deserve what happened to her.
The skater had injured herself because she'd been high again without the rest of them realising it at first, and then they'd wanted her gone. Why didn't they realise that perhaps Danielle coming to them like that was a cry for help? It wasn't right, and it weighed heavily on everybody's hearts.
"Let's get to the room quickly," Rat muttered, sounding exhausted as well. "Everyone's noticing we look like Danielle."
"Figured as much," Leigh muttered, sprinting over to the elevator to get up to the third floor of the building.
The walk to the room was made largely in silence, though once they arrived, it became obvious that something was very wrong. The room was empty, and looked ready for its next patient.
"The fuck?" Leigh asked, looking around.
Rat was confused as well. She stared around the hallway. She noticed a nurse nearby and went over to ask where Aila was. Leigh stayed in the room and walked around, seeing none of Aila's things there either. Something caught her eye as she approached the bed area though – a small object on the floor beside the bed.
Raising an eyebrow, the hairdresser knelt down to see what it was. She found herself staring at an old photograph showing two young clones laughing together. Her blood turned to ice as she recognised the picture. Her hand trembled slightly as she stared at it.
She didn't notice when Rat returned to the room and started talking quickly. The hacker paused when she realised Leigh wasn't listening at all, narrowing her eyes slightly in annoyance. Her expression softened slightly when she saw the look of shock and horror on Leigh's face.
"What's that?" she asked, seeing the photograph in Leigh's hand.
Leigh trembled uncontrollably. "Rachel's got Aila."
"Sorry, what?" Rat asked, frowning.
Leigh clearly wasn't thinking straight. She couldn't find the words to explain herself, instead thrusting the photograph before her so Rat could look at it. It shook violently in Leigh's trembling hands. Rat didn't understand what she was looking at to start with. Leigh wasn't making any sense.
"The nurse said a guy in a suit checked Aila out yesterday," Rat whispered. Terror set into her along with the realisation of what had happened as she spoke her own words. Leigh obviously knew it as well.
"Rachel knows," Leigh hissed. "She knows."
Rat understood instantly. The photo was of Leigh and Rachel in their younger years, together. Clearly, Rachel hadn't taken the revelation lightly...the empty bed where Aila had been proved that.
Rat shakily took the photograph from Leigh to inspect it. "How could DYAD know Aila was here?" the hacker asked fearfully, though she supposed it made sense if DYAD had been paying attention to the ice skating tournament...there was every chance they'd put two and two together after Aila's performance...
Something caught Rat's attention on the back of the photo as she flipped it over. She quickly showed Leigh, who hadn't seen the writing on there until now.
'Bring her home, or yours suffers.'
It was Rachel's handwriting, unmistakably. It only confirmed Leigh's worst fears, and Rat's too. The hacker looked strangely disturbed at Leigh's increasing rage bubbling within her, threatening to break loose any second now.
Rachel wouldn't actually hurt Aila, would she? Would she? Leigh knew Rachel better than that. Rachel wasn't that sick. DYAD must be making her do this. They must be.
Something in Leigh's gut made her run from the room, though she had no clue where she was going or what she was going to do. She was unaware of Rat chasing after her, the photograph still clutched in her hand as she attempted to catch up to Leigh.
After chasing Leigh halfway around the hospital, Rat managed to calm her down enough to drag her out of the building. Leigh continued to shake with rage, staring down at the photograph as she did.
Rat remained silent as she led Leigh back home. Really, this wasn't surprising. DYAD would have heard there was a woman who looked like Danielle in the hospital while the real Danielle was missing and suspected to be dead. They would have wanted to look into it. The hacker grumbled and inwardly kicked herself for allowing Aila to stay at the hospital alone at night. She should have insisted that someone stay with her.
When the two got back to the house, they quickly located Katja and filled her in on what had happened, showing her the photograph and the threat that had been left.
The German woman cursed under her breath. "Vee must get her back before zey hurt her, ja?"
Leigh started pacing back and forth quickly. "Rachel wouldn't actually hurt Aila, I don't think. DYAD's gotta be making her-"
"Again with that?" Rat hissed venomously before she could stop herself. "When will you wake UP and realise Rachel's more than capable of hurting someone to get what she wants?! Why else would she have had Aila kidnapped in the first place?"
"I don't know!" Leigh snapped back. "Because she wants us to THINK she would to make us go to London! They've probably just got Aila sitting in a room somewhere!"
Rat glared at Leigh. "Why won't you see that-"
"ENOUGH!"
The loud command was enough to silence the two bickering clones as they both looked at Katja with wide eyes, who was glaring back at them both.
"Now ez not zee time to be fighting over nozing," the Germa said firmly. "Vee must find out vere doctor ez being held and come up vith a plan, yes? Save your fighting for a better time. Vee must be acting fast. DYAD...I do not trust zem not to hurt Aila somehow. Even if Rachel herself does not, ozers might. Is zis not correct, Rat?"
Rat sighed heavily. "Yeah," she muttered, reaching for her laptop as she sat down at the kitchen table. She rubbed her head slightly as the system booted up. She refused to look at Leigh.
Katja's expression softened slightly. "Vee must ALL vork together to get doctor back. Do not forget zis. She needs all of us now."
"Well she just wants me, right? Rachel, I mean," Leigh squeaked, brandishing the photograph absently.
Rat shot her a venomous glare. "And what exactly will it accomplish if you give into her?"
It was Katja's turn to leer this time. Her fierce stare caught Rat's attention as if to say 'what did I just say?', and Rat fell quiet. Her typing, however, became louder and angrier.
"Leigh, they may not let Aila go, even if you go back to Rachel," Katja spoke calmly. "Rachel might have helped us before, but it ez clear Leekie ez on another level. He wanted all of us, ja? Aila's arrival zere von't go unnoticed by him. If you go back to Rachel, vee need to find a vay of doing it vile sneaking Aila out, otherwise they vill have you both."
"And why should we give Leigh back up to DYAD?!" Rat exclaimed, unable to help herself despite Katja's warnings to stop arguing. Leigh glanced at Rat. If the situation wasn't so dire, she might have made a snide comment about Rat caring so much, but it wasn't appropriate. "We get Aila out, and we run as fast as we can in the opposite direction! There is no other option!" the hacker continued on.
Leigh sighed. She was unable to resist tugging at her own hair as she tried to think of a solution. Katja approached her sister, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she worked on the laptop.
"Not necessarily give her up to DYAD," Katja said gently. "Just to Rachel."
"Is there much difference?" Rat hissed. She wasn't sure she believed what she was hearing.
Katja's eyes found Leigh's then. They stared at one another for a moment or two while Rat waited for some kind of explanation. "I believe Leigh can get through to her," Katja stated.
Rat shook with fury. "Katja, what are you ON? I'm sorry, but I don't agree. I insist we find another alternative that doesn't involve handing Leigh back over to them."
Neither Katja nor Leigh said anything. They watched each other again while Rat continued muttering to herself. Leigh was torn. She understood Rat's concerns completely, but Katja was right too. Rachel probably only wanted Leigh to discuss what she'd recently discovered about them. Maybe Leigh could use that to pull her sister from DYAD's clutches once and for all.
Then again, the entire thing could be a trap set by Leekie himself. If that was the case, Leigh had no clue how Aila was getting out.
Aila sat as still as a statue as she waited for somebody to appear. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed since she'd woken up in the room, though it couldn't have been more than an hour.
The room was dark, with a stone floor. The only item in the room was a small bed, and the only light came from a small window too high up for her to reach or see out of. Her left arm throbbed in its sling, and though the pulsing pain made her feel sick and dizzy, she tried to ignore it as best she could.
Finally, the sound of a door opening caught her attention, and she lifted her head to see somebody walk into the room. Aila narrowed her eyes slightly, waiting to see who it was and what they wanted. She was expecting the creepy man, Daniel, who had taken her from the hospital, though her eyebrows shot up in shock as the face of a very familiar clone appeared before her.
"R-Rachel?!" Aila gasped, before her glare returned, somehow more intense than before. "The friggin' hell are you doing here?! Where the hell am I?!" she demanded.
Somehow the way Rachel simply stared down at her told the doctor that Rachel was not here to help her in any way. The blonde clone's face stayed blank and unimpressed.
"You are at the DYAD institute," Rachel informed her. Her voice was colder than Aila remembered it, if that was even possible...and the words she spoke caused Aila to freeze in panic. She shrank back slightly when Rachel approached, her high heels clicking dangerously on the floor. As she moved, the light from the window illuminated her features, allowing Aila to see the glazed over, but fierce look in her eyes that had never been there before.
"I don't understand..." Aila whispered as Rachel loomed over her.
"It is not your place to understand," Rachel responded. "All I ask is that you co-operate."
"Co-operate?"
"You will stay here until you do."
Aila frowned deeply. Was she dreaming? Was this a bad dream? Something wasn't adding up...and Rachel was being extremely vague. Surely Aila deserved a better explanation than this.
"Rachel, I don't get it," Aila spoke lowly, eager to keep on the blonde clone's good side until she fully understood the situation. "You helped us, remember? The last time we saw you...you helped us get away..."
Rachel became doll-like. She didn't move an inch for a good ten or more seconds, apparently not even breathing. Aila thought she could be mistaken for a mannequin quite easily.
"A very serious error on my part," Rachel growled then. The sudden change in her voice was alarming. Aila felt tense...Rachel fixed her gaze on the doctor properly now. "You are going to help me correct that."
Aila stared up at the other clone, not knowing exactly what Rachel wanted her to do about it. What happened back in Geneva was Rachel's own choice, wasn't it?
"Tell me where Leigh is," Rachel said lowly, her voice barely on the edge of threatening.
Aila stared at Rachel, swallowing hard. Had the other woman received Rat's email? Did she know she and Leigh were sisters? Was that why she wanted Leigh? Or did she want to drag the rest of them back on DYAD's orders?
Aila steeled herself, and then shook her head. "I can't do that, Rachel."
Rachel became motionless again, staring down at the doctor. Aila couldn't decipher the look on Rachel's face, though from what Leigh had said before, she knew Rachel didn't take kindly to her orders being defied. Still though, the doctor refused to grass up her friends to DYAD.
Rachel suddenly turned on her heel and paused just before reaching the door. She glanced back at Aila. "It would be in your best interest to rethink keeping her from me," she said explained. Then, Rachel opened the door and spoke to someone outside. "No food or water. Two days. I'll return to speak with her again then."
Despite the risks, Leigh, Rat, and Katja decided they had no choice but to fly to London the next morning. They had no reason to stay in France now Danielle was assumed to be dead. Even without a body as proof, they couldn't wait around.
The three managed to find a small apartment to stay in for the time being. The following day was spent throwing ideas around to figure out a plan to somehow get into DYAD without getting everybody captured.
Leigh became more and more reclusive as the day passed on, and as evening set in, the hairdresser again stared out the window. It felt bizarre to be back in this city. Her home. Where everything had started. It was as if her entire journey had gone full circle.
A short while later, Rat received an incoming call from Beth. The hacker groaned, expecting the detective to start yelling at them over samples again, though when she answered the call, it was obvious Beth was very distressed. She was shaking and looking around with wide eyes. Before Rat could ask what happened, the detective blurted out a statement that stunned everybody.
"Holy fucking shit. I killed Maggie Chen."
Screeching silence fell between the clones as they kept their eyes on Beth. Katja and Leigh had been nearby when Rat received the call, and they found themselves wandering over in horror at Beth's words.
That didn't make sense though. How could silence be so loud?
"W-what?" Rat's voice cut into the silence at last.
Beth's next actions shocked everyone even more. She was pale, and visibly trembling, but none of them expected her to screw her face up in defeat, throw her head into her hands, and let out an exhausted, painful sob.
Rat, Katja and Leigh looked around at each other helplessly. It was horrible not being with Beth in person to offer some kind of comfort.
"Beth? Beth?" Leigh spoke in a high voice. "Listen – tell us what happened-"
"She was – I had to protect us," Beth managed, her voice muffled behind her hands.
Rat willed herself to pull the laptop closer to her, deciding she would have to be the one to take control and get the truth out of the distraught detective. "Maggie was over there after you?" the hacker asked.
"Yes!" Beth sobbed. "I saw her following me around a few weeks ago...I-I thought she was just some weird stalker, so I started looking into her...I...w-when I saw her name, I remembered what you guys told me...I don't know, I-I just panicked!"
Rat frowned. "What's going to happen to you now?" she asked quietly. Even though Beth was a cop, she had murdered someone, and while the hacker didn't know Canada's laws on the subject, she knew there was a good chance Beth was in very deep trouble over this.
Beth buried her head in her hands, shaking her head as she continued sobbing. "M-My partner...h-he helped me cover it up...m-made it look like an accidental shooting, but...I-I...I've been suspended while the incident's being investigated..."
The room fell deathly silent as the detective continued to cry. No one was sure what they could say or do for her. They wished their clone sister wasn't so far away.
After several moments, Beth sighed and wiped her eyes, resting her head on her arms. She looked broken and defeated. "You said you got Danielle's samples...when are you lot gonna be coming over here?" she questioned.
Rat hesitated and glanced at Leigh and Katja, knowing now wasn't the right time to tell Beth that Aila had been captured by DYAD. "We...err...something's come up that needs sorting, but hopefully we'll make it over there soon. We'll keep you updated, OK?" she said gently.
From her home in Canada, Beth could only nod at the hacker's words. Had it been foolish to alert her clone sisters to what she had done? How had she been expecting them to help her get through this? She still wanted to tell them to hurry up; that she was sick of this, sick of everything, but if they were in the habit of listening to her, this would all be over by now anyway. Maybe she wouldn't have been forced to take such drastic measures.
Beth ended the call, stood from her chair, and made her way to the medication cabinet.
Aila hadn't eaten in two days.
She hadn't taken Rachel's warning seriously to start with. It was only a matter of waiting until the blonde clone realised this was ridiculous and helped Aila understand the truth behind all of this. Aila could help Rachel if she'd only put an end to this.
And yet, two days later, Aila was still imprisoned in the dark room with hunger pains growing more intense by the minute. Her throat felt dry. She needed to drink something...
Aila was frustrated. She needed to understand why, and being left alone in an isolated room was causing panic. Not that she'd let that show...
"Rachel," Aila whispered when the proclone showed herself again. Aila sat up straight to watch her approach. "Just tell me why."
"Why?" Rachel repeated, her voice flat and emotionless. "You know why. Until you co-operate, this will be your punishment."
"Rachel, please," Aila said, her voice hoarse and dry. "Letting me die really isn't going to win favour with Leigh, I hope you realise..."
Rachel's lips twitched briefly, the only hint of emotion on her face. "Die? Spare me the drama. You still have at least a few more days before the dehydration becomes so severe, and several weeks until the hunger does. You disappoint me. I would have expected a doctor to have known such basic facts," she said snidely.
Aila looked at Rachel desperately. "Even if I told you where Leigh was, do you think she'll still be there now?" she said, trying to reason with the blonde.
Rachel stared at Aila as she considered this fair point. After several minutes, she turned and walked from the room again. Aila sighed, easing herself down to lie on the bed. Her arm felt like it was on fire. The pain of it combined with the stabbing in her stomach, and burning dryness in her throat made for a very sick and dizzy clone.
Rachel was right. She wouldn't die of thirst just yet, but she really didn't want to find out how far Rachel would let her go before either killing her or bringing her back to health. After what could have been a few minutes or a few hours, Rachel reappeared and tossed something on the bed. Aila eyed the device warily, seeing it was a phone.
"Call Leigh," Rachel ordered. "Do so, and I will allow you to eat and drink again."
For a brief moment, Aila almost consented to be relieved of pain, but she immediately felt guilty for thinking that. She would not betray Leigh, no matter what. Picking up the phone shakily, the doctor stared at it for a moment and threw it hard against the wall. It shattered into a pile of glass and plastic.
Rachel froze. This made no sense to her. This had never happened before.
"Nobody defies me," she told Aila in a deadly voice.
"I just did," Aila responded instantly, angry at Rachel's behaviour and messed up way of thinking. Just who did Rachel think she was?
"I want my sister, Aila," Rachel snapped now. She was beginning to lose her cool. She looked...disturbed...but her confession only confirmed Aila's suspicions. "You will not deny me of her."
A sick feeling settled in Aila's gut as Rachel's words sunk in. The doctor managed to stand up wearily. She was going to show Rachel she wouldn't be pushed around so easily. "Nobody ever did deny you," she tried to reason with the unstable clone, though she knew it wasn't necessarily true. DYAD had caused this, but Rachel wasn't going to understand that. "Leigh always wanted you with her. She missed you like crazy. She wanted you with her the entire time we were travelling, and you told her no, didn't you? You told her not to contact you again."
Rachel shook with fury. She wasn't going to stand for this woman implying it was her fault all of this had happened. Without a word, Rachel turned on her heel and stormed from the room. She would make this woman pay for daring to defy her.
She was Rachel Duncan, and nobody denied her anything she wanted. One way or another, she would make Aila understand that.
The following few days were restless. Everyone was worried about Beth, and they still didn't have a plan for how they were going to rescue Aila. It was concerning to know Maggie had been in Canada. The last time they saw her was when they were in Appenzell. If Maggie had made it to Canada, did Helena already know about Beth? Was the detective next?
"Someone should go there and make sure Beth's OK," Leigh suggested one morning, and she couldn't help but glance at Katja as she said this. She still wanted the German to go there anyway to see Beth's scientist friend.
Katja met her gaze evenly, looking tired and unimpressed. "Vee vill not split up. Vee save doctor, zen go to Canada. Beth is cop. She knows zee dangers...she vill be fine, I am sure."
Rat sat off to the side on the sofa, somehow balancing both the laptop and Charles on her lap. The old dog seemed content to relax and be used as a table, probably enjoying the warmth of the machine on his back.
The hacker had spent the morning researching the DYAD facility in London, looking for any weaknesses that they could possibly exploit. Combined with her own knowledge of the facility, she wasn't getting too far. Rat sighed and leaned back, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She knew if this wasn't done right, it would end badly for them all.
"Vat if vee blackmail someone? There must be at least a few unhappy employees that vee could try talking into helping us?" Katja offered as she got up from the table to sit on the sofa beside her sister.
"Worth a shot, I suppose," Rat muttered in agreement. She pulled up a list of current employees that were stationed at the facility regularly.
Scanning through the names, Katja's eyebrows suddenly shot up in stunned shock. "Vait, stop! Scroll back up!"
"What?!" Rat snapped, though she started slowly scrolling back up through the names.
"There, stop!" Katja said, pointing to the screen.
When Rat saw exactly what her sister was so frantic over, her eyes grew wide in surprise. "No way..."
"What? What is it this time?" Leigh snapped in panic. She was utterly fed up of shocking news hitting them with no time to let it sink in before something else presented itself.
Katja simply beckoned Leigh over and encouraged Rat to turn the laptop so the hairdresser could see. The face of a very familiar man was displayed on the screen, along with the DYAD logo and paragraphs of information.
"Lucas?!" Leigh gasped.
The three of them were quiet for a bit. Rat frowned, pulling the laptop back to read through his file in detail to try and understand what had happened to him.
"Yeah...he's still alive," she told the others eventually. Rat felt Katja's body stiffen up beside her.
"How?" Katja whispered.
"I don't know," Rat said quickly, shaking her head in disbelief. "I don't know; maybe he didn't get shot; maybe he outran Maggie – or maybe she thought she killed him and then just left him – I don't know-"
"He's here in London," Leigh spoke over Rat. She had climbed across Katja's lap in a desperate bid to see what was on the screen, and saw the German man was back under Leekie's observation. "So what's his angle? Is he gonna turn against us now too?!"
"Hell knows," Katja grumbled. She shoved Leigh off of her, stood up, and held back a violent cough. She wanted to see Lucas badly to clear up this enormous mess of confusion. She was tired of being unsure of who to trust.
Rat slammed the laptop shut so violently it caused Charles to jump up in alarm. He eyed his mistress curiously, who paid no attention to the dog in her angry state. "Lucas owes us," she told the other clones defiantly. "If he's still alive, he's going to help us."
Rat passed the laptop to Katja then, and gently moved Charles off of her lap so she could stand up and leave the room. Really, she just needed a bit of space to gather her thoughts and decide what to do next, but it left Leigh wondering what on earth the hacker meant when she said Lucas owed them.
He'd saved their lives...wasn't that enough?
Later that night, Rat's Skype icon flashed orange. She stared at it for a moment, before clicking on it. Instead of a message, the program told her she had a new contact request. The hacker raised an eyebrow at the foreign name.
"Adalyn Blanchard?" she muttered to herself. "Who the friggin' hell is that?" She went to block the request, but froze when she noticed a message had been left by the person as well.
'Rat, call me when you can. -D.'
The hacker raised an eyebrow. Her Skype didn't have her nickname on it, but rather a fake name that meant nothing and wasn't tied to anything cloney. Whoever this was, they knew exactly who she was, and while it was probably stupid to accept the request, she couldn't help giving into curiosity.
Almost as soon as the contact was added to her list, a video request came in. The hacker bit her lip, but proceeded to answer it. She could only stare in stunned shock at the sight that greeted her.
On the screen was the unmistakable face of a clone. Her dark hair was short, just barely reaching her shoulders, though it was styled in ringlets and was streaked with green and blue hues. She wore stylish glasses, which further made her stand out from an average clone.
"Bonjour! Sorry for ignoring calls and zings. It was not safe...and I got rid of phone anyway," she said with a soft French accent.
"D-Danielle?!" Rat gasped loudly, covering her mouth in shock.
Danielle giggled a bit. "Oui! Are you still in Paris?"
Rat couldn't bring herself to respond at first as surprise bled into relief, and even a touch of anger. "We thought you were DEAD!" she blurted out before she could stop herself.
"Sorry," Danielle frowned. "It was zee only way. I left a note to be found so zey would not follow me, but it was too unsafe to contact you all. I fled zee country and am now in zee city of Geneva, Switzerland. Not sure if you know it, but it is 'uge and speaks French. I guessed no one will look for me 'ere...I am going to lie low for some time and try to meet up with you all later on when everyzing calms down...i-if zee offer is still zere..."
Leigh and Katja walked into the room then, both looking confused at Rat talking to someone. They didn't think Beth would want to call back so soon.
Rat glanced up at them. "Danielle's alive!"
Leigh rushed to the laptop, almost knocking Rat over in her haste to see the French clone. "Well thank FUCK for that!"
Danielle wavered, apparently surprised to see the others so relieved. "I am sorry for everyzing," she explained quietly.
"Vat of your boyfriend? Kyle?" Katja questioned.
Danielle's eyes turned dark behind her new glasses. "It is over. You must say nozing to him."
Leigh stifled a sigh. Kyle was clearly upset over this, and she felt as though he deserved to know Danielle was alive, at least...then again, it wasn't Leigh's place to decide that...
"We're not in Paris anymore anyway, so don't worry," she forced herself to say. "I'm glad you got in touch."
"Are you?" Danielle challenged her.
Leigh nodded. "Of course I am. We all are. We never wanted to see you dead, Danielle. That's the whole reason we're out here doing what we're doing. It's the reason we came to find you in the first place."
Danielle took a moment to respond. She seemed touched by Leigh's words. "I never zanked you all for zat. I will always be grateful, and to have zee chance to break away from...from zee past. So zank you."
The clones nodded in acknowledgement, all of them silently understanding each other. Rat shifted in her seat after a moment. "The killer, Helena, could be anywhere, but you should be safe if you keep hidden," she explained slowly.
"Yes," Danielle agreed. "Listen...about Aila...I really am so very sorry. Please make sure she knows zis."
Leigh felt her fists clench of their own accord. She didn't want to worry Danielle, or cause more feelings of guilt for her, so she nodded in determination. "We will," she assured the French clone. "But listen. There's something we have to do first, but then we'll be heading for Canada. You make sure you keep in touch, OK? We'll let you know when to go over there to meet us."