Бесплатный фрагмент - The Queen of the Two Moons

Preface

It was December 2019, and I was planning to spend the New Year’s holidays with my family, not worrying about daily posts for my educational channel, where I share short lessons and tips for people learning English. The news pundits were talking about a virus that could potentially be threatening but having experienced the SARS pandemic back in 2002 in Taiwan, I didn’t pay too much attention to it. What I was thinking about, though, was an idea to write a short story in the form of dialogues, divide it into small parts, and post them on my channel over the holidays, allowing people to learn a few new things. This way, I wouldn’t need to worry about creating new content during that time.

So, I set out to write a short story entirely composed of dialogues. To make it more exciting, I began with a murder, added a deadly virus, and ended with a cliffhanger. The story was posted, and people seemed to like it. Then, of course, COVID-19 happened, and we were all busy adjusting to the new reality.

Fast forward a couple of years. I stumbled upon an article about self-publishing and remembered the little story I’d written. I dusted off the Word file and decided to expand it, adding more details and self-publishing it as a standalone story. Thus, As Long as I’m With You was born. The idea was to create something both interesting and useful, so that people learning English would not only enjoy the story but also pick up new vocabulary and expressions, with the hope of cultivating a reading habit in English.

“Why stop there?” I asked myself. “A trilogy would be even better, because three is a good number,” I continued, building on my idea. “The more, the merrier,” I added, and so I sat down to write more.

That’s how The Perfect Match and The Two Moons were written and published. Soon, I was writing non-stop, and even completed the first draft of a novel (Hide-and-Seek), a psychological thriller in a different genre, which gave me an opportunity to hone my writing skills further.

I read the stories with some students in my Book Club and during online classes, receiving a lot of valuable feedback. As a result, I decided to revise the parts a bit and combine them into one novel with many useful references for language learners — and that’s how The Queen of the Two Moons came to be, the book you are now holding (or reading on your device).

I hope you will enjoy reading the story of one strong young woman, Lizzy, and learn many interesting words and expressions if you are studying English.

Sergey Redkin

October 11, 2024

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“I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.” Maya Angelou

Part 1: As Long As I’m With You

Chapter 1: We’ll Figure This Out (Present Time)

Lizzy could not believe what she was looking at. This was impossible. How could this happen? Only an hour ago, everything was fine. She thought she was one of the happiest women in the world. She had everything: a man who loved her, an excellent job, a bunch of friends, and a cute ocean wave green Mini Cooper. She couldn’t wait to wake up every morning and go spend her day working in a big international company as a logistics manager with a big smile on her face. And now… well, now she was not sure that her life would ever go back to what it was. No, come to think of it, she was not sure that she had a life anymore. How did this all happen?

It all began this morning when he told her that he was leaving her. Things went downhill afterwards.

“You what?” she asked, putting her phone down. Lizzy had been scrolling through some of her favorite influencers, looking for productive ways to give her already successful career another boost.

Having just done her morning yoga routine, she was sitting on a tall stool near the kitchen island in her sportswear. She was still on her first cup of the day as the words spilled from her mouth along with the coffee.

He was standing near an open window, still in his pajamas, hair disheveled from the night’s sleep. It was a bright day, and it looked as if he had a halo over his head. What irony!

“We can’t be together anymore,” he added and quickly looked out the window, turning his back to

her.

“What are you looking out of the window for?” She tried to stay cool. “Is your new girlfriend waiting for you out there?”

Staying cool did not seem like an option.

“I’m sorry, but we have to end it today,” he said looking at her.

“What do you mean today?! What? Do you already have a breakup plan? Or did you decide just then, while drinking your coffee?” she asked, barely controlling herself and slowly realizing that it was not some sort of joke.

“Listen. We’ll figure this out. Believe me, it’s for the best,” he said.

“Are you being serious?” Slamming her cup down on the kitchen island, she suddenly realized that she could throw it at him right about now.

He opened his mouth …and at that precise moment something outside cracked. He fell on the floor; his head was covered in blood. Then her phone started to ring.

***

She answered in zombie mode, still unable to process what had just happened.

“You’d better leave now,” a female voice said on the other end of the line. Somehow the voice sounded strangely familiar.

“Ah?” was all she could master, her eyes fixed on the motionless body on the floor.

“Go now or you’ll be lying next to him in a minute,” said the voice without a hint of compassion. “Who are you?” Lizzy was almost screaming.

“Don’t believe anyone. Run!” The same coolness. Then the line went dead.

She put the phone down on the kitchen island and eyed the kitchen. What was going on?

Click.

The brain started to work faster. Lizzy ran to him, still hoping it was a terrible prank. Nope. This was blood on her floor. And this was one dead man. Her man. Well, her ex-man. She was checking his pulse and breathing, just in case, when she heard someone running down the corridor outside her door. She jumped up.

***

The morning street felt strange. How could these people go about their business when her boyfriend was lying dead on the floor, right up there in their apartment? Where was she supposed to go now? Somehow, calling the police did not seem like a clever idea. But why? She hadn’t done anything wrong. She’d just had a cup of coffee while her soon-to-be-proposing boyfriend was murdered in the process of breaking up with her. Should she call the police after all? Perhaps she should.

She checked her pockets, but… Oh no! She’d left her phone on the kitchen island. All her contacts.

She didn’t remember any numbers by heart. Who could? Were there still payphones these days? Whom should she call even if she found one?

“Don’t scream,” came the same cold voice from the call, but… behind her. She stopped in disbelief.

“Keep walking.” A slight shove on her back.

She complied. A decision triggered by her survival mechanism rather than her brain. “Who are you?” she asked quietly.

“In a minute,” the stranger said. “Turn right here.” Another nudge to her back.

They stepped into a quiet alley where most of the benches were occupied with elderly people and mothers rocking their baby strollers.

“Here’s good,” the stranger said when they reached an empty bench. “Sit down.” “May I turn around?” she asked, sitting down.

“If you want,” the stranger said. She did.

Perhaps, it was not a good comparison, but what Lizzy saw shocked her almost as much as the death of her boyfriend.

***

She was looking at herself. Well, she was looking at a young woman who looked exactly like her, as if they were identical twins in different outfits. The same mouth shape, the same celestial nose. Her straight hair was shorter than Lizzy’s shoulder length curls. The stranger was wearing a plain dark blue hoodie, a pair of black jeans, and, what looked like, Dr. Martens black leather boots.

“Yes, I know,” the stranger said. “It took quite some time for me to wrap my head around thistoo!”

“Are you…?” she began.

“You?” the stranger finished. “Yes. I’m you.” “From the future?” Lizzy asked in bewilderment. “Not really,” the woman said. “I’m your copy.” “My copy?”

“Yes. Some of us have copies, but they never tell us that,” Lizzy’s copy said as if it was common knowledge.

“Who are they?”

“They.” The other woman shrugged. “The ones who want to control us. And now they are trying to erase us for some reason.”

What?!

“I haven’t done anything illegal. What is happening?” Lizzy asked in a wavering voice. “Listen, we don’t have much time, so let’s get the hell out of here first and then we can properly catch up,” Lizzy’s copy said, looking around. “But I don’t understand…” she started.

“No talk. Let’s go,” the other she said quickly and stood up.

The stranger extended her hand, another cracking sound somewhere in a distance, and… the copy’s head exploded like a watermelon.

***

Two dead people in one morning might seem like nothing on the global scale of things but seeing your boyfriend and your copy, whatever that meant, getting shot in front of you could make anyone go insane.

Is that what it was?

Was Lizzy going crazy and was seeing things that weren’t there? Nope. The moms in the alley were all screaming, and the grandmas were trying to run away. There was definitely a shooting just now.

The cracking sound. Was she the next target?

The twin woman had said that they were trying to erase them. Another click. Lizzy’s brain started to work again.

It took her a couple of minutes to get into the endless stream of people hurrying to their work. She stopped by the curb to catch her breath when a car tire screeched next to her, and the passenger door opened.

“Get in, quick,” the driver yelled.

What next?

Will it ever end?

Why does this voice sound so familiar?

“Come on, Lizzy. We don’t have much time!” He sounded agitated. He knew her name!

***

Lizzy gaped at him. It was him. Her Mark. But how could that be?

“I know,” he said without taking his eyes off the road. “It took me awhile to understand this, but I’m not who you think I am.”

It dawned on her. “You’re his copy.” He nodded.

She got into the car.

She couldn’t stop looking at him. This man looked exactly like Mark, the boyfriend who was supposed to propose Lizzy soon. They both had round faces and blue eyes. Only his hair was combed in a different way, to the right side, and he wasn’t wearing pajamas, but a white T-shirt and a pair of blue jeans. The man’s skin was tanned as if he had spent a lot of time under the sun. Mark was not a big of fan of sunbathing and preferred to stay inside. Also, the stranger was wearing a rather chunky diver’s watch with a steel bracelet on his right hand, unlike her boyfriend who wore his dress watch on a leather strap on the left hand. She remembered that because she had given him that watch as a birthday present. It was only a few days ago. It was expensive and it had taken her a while to choose it in the department store that was near her office.

“He was trying to make you leave the apartment this morning. To save you,” he said. “He just needed a bit more time.”

What?! How does he know about what happened at my home?

“We found him first and told him everything,” he said. “He thought we were from the future,” he added with a sad smile.

He kept quiet for a while. Only the sound of the accelerating engine filled the air.

Lizzy felt that the numbness which her body had gone into to protect her from the shock of losing Mark and watching the assassination of the woman who was supposed to be her copy was slowly melting away and the intense mix of emotions and feelings she had never experienced was about to overwhelm her.

“He was adamant to keep you out of it,” he said finally, breaking the silence. She felt tears running down her cheeks and his face became blurry.

“How do you… did you know my boyfriend?” she asked. “We just met Mark yesterday,” he said after a pause.

He watched her for a moment.

“Listen, we both lost important people today,” he continued. “I know this is all messed up, but we need to stay together. At least for a while to get to the bottom of it.”

She couldn’t see and hear him anymore. Grief finally broke through the barrier of shock. He took her hand and quietly said: “Don’t worry, Lizzy. We’ll figure this out.”

Then he took a ramp to merge onto the highway out of the city.

Chapter 2: Lizzy’s Diary (Present Time)

I guess the most difficult thing in this crazy story is to accept the reality of it and get used to wearing Beth, my twin copy, clothes. The latter isn’t a big problem because we were the same size, and she had good taste. I have six more days before the jump, and I must put all my memories together while they’re still fresh and painful. Yes, pain. I don’t know if I’ll feel it after the jump. It connects me to the past. My past. My life seems to be so long ago. Will I still be me if I lose it?

In any case, I’d better start my diary from the beginning.

I was in the car with Marco – my Mark’s copy – and my life disappeared in the rearview mirror. When we put a couple of hundred miles between us and New York, he started to slow down. I had no more tears in me and was just staring out of the window thoughtlessly.

The car stopped.

“Here’s where we’ll meet him,” Mark said. “Who?”

“The man who knows the answers,” he said and opened the door. “Are you coming?” “How do you know that man?” I asked Mark when we got out of the car.

“You told me about him. I mean, Beth. She found him a while ago or he found her. I’m not sure how that happened. In any case, he told us to bring her copy – you – to him. To save you.”

“To do what?”

“Apparently, someone didn’t want that meeting to happen.” “To do what?!”

“That’s what you and I are going to find out because Lizzie didn’t live long enough to explain that to you and I think he’ll do a better job,” Marco said, looking around. “It should be somewhere close.”

I looked around as well. We were close to a mountain.

“There’s nothing here,” I stated the obvious. “Aren’t these the Adirondack Mountains?”

I knew that because our company had arranged a corporate retreat in this area a year ago. It was a good outing. We had a lot of fun hiking, canoeing, and checking out waterfalls.

“Not sure what they’re called here, but we call them the Algonquian Hills in my world. This is where we came to your world. There’s supposed to be a cave here,” Marco said looking intently in the direction of the mountain. He added: “Oh, I think I see it.”

It took a while to get to the place where we were going, which turned out to be an entrance of the cave. I had not seen it on the company’s retreat. It was big enough for both of us to walk without touching the ceiling. Mark had a couple of flashlights with him. He gave me one, switched his on and led the way. We walked in and went ahead for a hundred meters or so. It was chilly and a bit eerie inside. I shivered.

I began, “How are we supposed to–”

That’s when I saw a big sea green flash of light ahead of us that turned into a big pulsating greenish-yellow ball just like bright northern lights. Weirdly, there was no sound. The ball started to open, like some kind of a portal, and a male silhouette walked right out of it.

It lasted a few seconds and then the ball was gone, but the man remained. He approached us. He was in his sixties, with a short gray beard and long hair, wearing khaki pants and a dark green turtleneck sweater. He seemed nervous, but he was smiling.

“Marco, Lizzy,” the man said as if he knew us well.

So, naturally, I fainted because a human being can take only a certain amount of drama and science fiction in one day without losing consciousness.

***

I had a dream that I saw my mom. She was smiling and nodding as if she understood my situation. I wanted to get closer to her and ask her what I should do, but when I opened my mouth, I came to my senses.

First, I heard some soft voices. There were two men whispering. I tried to open my eyes. It wasn’t easy because they were swollen. I was thirsty and I was lying on something soft.

“Ahem?” I cleared my throat.

“Oh, good.” I heard Marco say. “She’s awake.” I heard him walking over to me.

“Lizzy,” Marco said, taking my hand. “How are you?” “Thirsty,” I said with an effort.

“Listen,” he continued. “This is Peter.”

I opened my eyes and saw the man from the big ball of light. He was smiling and now looked vaguely familiar for some reason. He waved at me. I looked at Marco. “He’s your dad, Lizzy,” Marco said.

I’ve never really met my father – or I should say that I don’t remember him. I knew almost nothing about the man except seeing a few pictures of him that my mom kept. Back then, he appeared to be a well-built smart-looking handsome young man in late twenties with short dark hair. I remember that he was smiling in those photos. My mom told me that he was a good man, but he had to be someplace away from the family. I think she made that up. In fact, she never gave me a proper explanation, and, as a little girl, I used to imagine him to be a great explorer blazing a trail in some jungle. Other relatives told me that he disappeared when I was a year old.

When I got older that mental portrait of my father slowly faded away, and I didn’t think much about him. Of course, I was wondering if I was like him from time to time. I am sure I had a lot of daddy-isn’t-home issues which I had to deal with, but I was pretty sure that I turned out to be relatively unscarred. My mom and I were best friends, and it seemed to me that we didn’t need a man in the house to complete the picture.

My mom died two years ago of cancer. On her deathbed, she told me one thing: “I hope you meet your father one day. I can feel he’s still alive.”

At the time I thought it was a very strange thing to say, perhaps it was the cancer talking.

And now there he was, smiling again. My estranged dad. Did I feel anything at that moment? I can’t say that I did.

“Hello, Lizzy,” he said.

“Hello,” I said, feeling a bit awkward, not knowing how to address him. He nodded and looked at Marco.

“We don’t have much time, Marco,” he said.

“Right,” Marco said and looked at me. “Listen, there’s a lot you need to know. You need to eat something first to gain your strength though.”

“What do I need my strength for?” I asked.

“Well,” Mark started, and looked at Peter and then back at me. “I guess there’s no other way to say it.”

“Say what?” I asked a bit nervously.

“We’re going to travel to another world,” he said.

***

I spent the next couples of days on an emotional roller-coaster, starting the day with crying over my dead boyfriend and whatever plans I could have been making with him, then trying to persuade Peter and Marco to go to the police to let them handle the matter and then going into a numb stupor later in the day.

Peter and Marco, who was also mourning his loss, were very patient with me. They let me be whenever I wanted to be alone and kept me company when I needed someone to talk to.

Once I pulled myself together, I noticed how well Peter had organized our little camping spot. There were three tents for each of us and food supplies.

***

When I mentioned that I imagined my dad “exploring the world,” it turned out that it wasn’t too far from the truth. We didn’t have much time to talk about it, but he gave me a quick summary of the past thirty years.

On the third day, when I could think relatively clearly and there were longer breaks between my crying, I asked Peter to tell me more of his story.

In a nutshell, and I know how crazy it will sound, Peter found a portal to another world in one of the caves he was exploring for some construction project he was working on at the time. He saw the green light. He got closer to check what it was, tripped and fell inside the ball of light. When he got out on the other side, he didn’t realize that he was in a different place at first. He thought it was just a pit that he fell into. When he got out of the cave, though, he noticed that there were two moons in the sky. That gave him a clue that he was either hallucinating or was in someplace else entirely. “Someplace else” was a major understatement in his case.

“That was the day when I disappeared from your life,” he said.

Peter later learned that these portals were openings that were created by crisscrossing of mingling lines of magnetic force from our worlds. He didn’t know why it was happening and it took him years to figure out the frequency and locations to be able jump back and forth.

When he got to that place in his story, I wanted to ask him why he didn’t come back and look for us, but he answered that himself: “Unfortunately, it took me too long to understand how they work and before I could jump for the first time, I was already deep in the mission. Most of the portals were closely watched by the people I had to avoid.”

“The same people who tried to kill me?” I asked.

He nodded. “It’s actually one person.” And before I could ask another question, he added: “I know you want some answers and I’ll tell you everything when the time comes, but back then… I couldn’t risk your lives by showing up at your doorstep. It was killing me, but it was the right thing to do.”

I was not so sure about that, but I wasn’t a little girl anymore and could deal with that for the moment. As Peter was telling me his story, however, I couldn’t help but notice that there were traces of that smart- looking young man I saw in the old photos in this old man whom I had to get reacquainted with.

What about that other world?

Well, according to Peter, it is a copy of our planet, except for the two moons. When I asked him how far it was, he smiled and said that it was not the distance I needed to know but the dimension. The place was in a parallel universe. Essentially, it was the world where everything was happening simultaneously with our planet. The evolution of species, the wars, the religions, the languages, the music and even the countries were almost identical, except for slight deviation in the names. It was mindboggling and too science fiction for me to accept as reality. How was it even possible?

It’s funny how Mark and I sometimes had playful arguments about those multiverse theories after watching some superhero movie. I thought they were complete nonsense. Something scientists made up to make us feel that we were not alone in this universe. He thought they were real. As it turned out, Mark was right on the money.

When I thought about that the funny part did not seem so funny anymore and I broke into tears. Peter had to stop his story for the day.

The next day, after breakfast that I made myself eat to feel stronger, he continued.

The other world is a dying copy of our planet. The people in that world are dying from a virus they can’t find a remedy for. There are not many healthy people left there, but there is a man who knows how to fix it. Well, sort of. His name is Dolion Aeneus and mysteriously he did not have his own copy on Earth.

I felt that I already knew the answer to my question, but I had to ask anyway, “Is that the man who killed Mark and Beth.”

“Yes,” Peter said.

Dolion discovered the portals between our worlds long before Peter. He saw our world and found out that we were immune to the disease his people were perishing from. He started to control the portals and decided to replicate us to populate his world. Why not create a vaccine to save people, you might ask? Well, if you create new people, who are designed to your liking, you become… God.

***

It was the sixth day of my new life. I woke up and felt that I had no more tears in me, but a dry and dark emptiness that I had to fill with some action. I had been watching Marco doing his best to deal with whatever he was going through by assisting Peter in preparing for the trip to the other world. So I pushed myself up and made breakfast for everybody to feel useful.

I had questions.

“How does Dolion make our copies, Peter?” I asked when we were having breakfast. I couldn’t call him “Dad” just yet. “How did he make Beth or…” I bit my tongue, looking at Marco.

“Me?” Mark asked.

“Sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to make sound like you’re…”

“A copy? No problem!” Marco said. “It’s kind of growing on me.”

“I mean, don’t these people already exist because it’s a parallel universe and all that and they.. have to exist because we exist here.” I was trying to form a coherent argument to understand it.

“He chooses specific couples – the copies of which are either dead in his world or have contracted the virus and about to die – when they are about to have babies on Earth and gets their biological samples,” Peter said. “Then he grows the copies of those children in his world. He controls the progress to make sure the babies grow fast, healthy and…”

“He makes sure we all work for him,” Mark ended the sentence sadly. “Hang on,” I said. “How does he get those samples in the first place?”

“He has some powerful connections here,” Peter said. “You know, money does wonders in both worlds.”

That was a lot to process. I still had so many questions. It felt, however, as though we were in a hurry for some reason.

“So, what’s the plan now?” I asked. “I mean, why are we going to the other world?”

“You see, Lizzy.” Peter began. “Dolion has bigger plans than dominating his own world.” “What do you mean?” I asked, feeling that I wasn’t going to like the answer.

“Well, he wants to rule over our world as well,” Peter said. “What? Like Voldemort or something?”

I don’t think either of them understood the reference, though.

I’ll tell them later.

“He will make it so we won’t even know what happened,” Peter said. “His plan is to infect us with a new virus he produced, control its spreading and slowly eliminate people who neither follow nor suit his plan.”

“Sounds like Hitler to me,” I said. “Can we get an antidote and create our own vaccine?” “Well, it looks like he has some strong supporters on this side who wouldn’t allow it.”

“I see,” I said with a heavy heart. “I guess, we’re on his list of “people that Dolion doesn’t want.”

“On the contrary,” Peter said. “He needs you. In fact, you’re probably on his list of ‘people that Dolion wants to get his hands on ASAP.’”

Oh, wow. This is getting better and better, isn’t it?

“What would he need me for?”

“Your blood can destroy the virus he created.”

“What?! You’ll have to run that one by me again. How is that even possible?”

“Apparently, there are people on this side with a unique type of blood that can withstand the attack of the virus. You happen to be one of them. I’m not.”

“But how do you guys know that I am one of them?” I asked, looking at Peter and Marco. “Beth,” Marco said. “She was one of them and she had the same unique blood as you.” “Like the same blood type?” I was confused.

“It’s more complicated than that.”

“Unfortunately, there aren’t many of your kind,” Peter chimed in. “So Dolion looks for people like you and tries to make sure they follow him… or they disappear.” Peter stood up and added, “They usually disappear.”

To say that I was overwhelmed with all that information would be to say nothing at all. However, it felt like it was time to go, and I stood up as well.

“We’ll jump to the other side and destroy the virus,” Peter said simply.

P.S. I am finishing this while Peter and Marco are getting ready for the jump. Peter said that the jump changes you a bit. I’m not sure what’s going to happen on the other side, but I hope my blood can do the trick. I guess we’ll have to figure this one out as well.

Chapter 3: The Dolion Project (Present Time)

Dolion

My world is dying, and I’m the one who decided to step up and do something about it. As far as I’m concerned, the end justifies the means.

Lizzy

The other world feels weird. Whenever I forget I’m in a different place, the two moons in the sky remind me that I am far away from home. I, on the other hand, feel like the same old me. No change.

Marco

Losing a loved one is never easy, but, unfortunately, it happens all the time. However, getting another opportunity with the exact replica of the person you lost is something that not many people have a chance to experience in their lifetime.

Peter

Seeing my daughter after all these years is the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. Even though it was devastating to learn about my wife’s demise, I can see her every day in my daughter’s eyes. That gives me energy to carry out what we set out to do.

***

Dolion

In my world, it’s not easy for anyone to do anything without me not knowing about it. When I got the intel of the portal’s security breach and those three appeared in my world, I knew they were up to something.

Lizzy

Ever since I found out about my blood being unique, I’ve been having this strange feeling that my body doesn’t belong to me anymore. Like I am a vessel to hold something that isn’t mine. All I have to do is to be extra careful and be ready to give back what was entrusted to me.

Marco

The plan that was proposed by the scientists who work with Peter is simple. Use Lizzy’s blood to destroy the virus. The logistics of it… isn’t. We don’t know how much blood we need to create the destructing antidote. The thought that we will probably need all her blood leaves me in a state of hopeless despair. I have only met her recently, but I don’t want anything to happen to her.

Peter

I know some people who can help us mix the formula that can obliterate the deadly force of the virus. We must find a way to deliver our potion to the vault where Dolion keeps it. Unfortunately, we don’t have any contacts for that, so we will have to do it the old way and break in.

***

Dolion

It’s funny how everyone thinks that the most precious things must be stored in some vault somewhere in the ground to be protected. Sometimes the best way to hide something is to keep it in plain sight.

Lizzy

I have to say that I was very relieved that they didn’t need all my blood when they were creating the elixir. On my part, the whole process was like donating blood in hospital. A few days later, I think I saw Marco crying happily when Peter’s white-coated associates announced the completion. Men could be so sensitive sometimes. It made me feel warm inside though.

Marco

Lizzy will live! I don’t know why but I don’t really care about the rest. I feel like she and I are two pieces of a puzzle that were thrown at each other in a game we do not yet comprehend. I must do whatever it takes to keep Lizzy safe and yet it feels confusing. Am I betraying the memory of Beth by caring about Lizzy?

Peter

Everything is ready. We have our formula at last. We know where the vault is and there is a way to create a diversion that will allow us to get in. It’s not going to be easy with the security detail he surrounds himself with, but Dolion will never know what hit him.

***

Dolion

I hear that our guests have been busy creating some concoction that allegedly can destroy my virus. I suppose if they knew exactly where the virus was, they could do some harm. Fortunately for me, they only think they do.

Lizzy

I’m so angry that they didn’t allow me to go with them. I didn’t come all the way just to be pushed aside at the decisive moment. Men could be so presumptuous about their physical superiority.

Marco

I’m so happy that she stayed behind. Some things should be done by men.

Peter

I had a strange feeling that there was something wrong with the fact that we could get to the vault relatively easily. Things went a bit too smoothly. Dolion’s famous security turned out be a few untrained men who did not care much about the vault. Before entering the vault, I made up a reason for Marco to go back and asked him to take the vials we had found in the security office back to our laboratory. I had to make sure that Lizzy would be taken care of in case this was a trap.

***

Dolion

As I thought, the prey went right into the trap. Not all of them, unfortunately, but the mastermind of this rebellion, that fool Peter, was eliminated by my trusted sniper as soon as he and his team entered the empty vault. Apparently, he never read Bias of Preine who once said: “Omnia mea mecum porto.” All that is mine I carry with me. Well, in my case, it is in me.

Lizzy

I knew the mission was dangerous. I thought I was ready for anything. I was so happy to see Marco back, but I understood that it was Peter’s decision to make sure I would be safe. When the remains of Peter’s team arrived and we learned that he was dead, we knew there was only one way to stop Dolion. To stop him would mean killing him. Only this time, I’m going do it and I’ll grieve for my newly- found-and-lost-again father when it’s done.

Marco

I guess we are back to where we started. If it takes both of our lives to accomplish it, so be it. I really hope it won’t though.

***

Dolion

I don’t have much time before the virus starts affecting my body, making my immune system weak. I will start getting progressively sick until my whole organism goes into a coma. I hadn’t been informed about the limited time factor when I injected myself. Well, some of my scientists paid with their lives for this mistake. Meanwhile, I need to jump to the other side and finish my work.

Lizzy

We finally got some good news. There are still some people who aren’t happy with the way things are in this world. Lucky for us, some of them are in high places. We got a hint that Dolion carries the virus himself. It is in him, literally.

Marco

We know where it is, and we need a new plan.

***

Dolion

There is one thing I must do before the other world meets its new ruler, though. I need to find that girl Lizzy and get all her blood before she can do any damage. Her kind isn’t easy to come by and since she was foolish enough to show up here, it would be a shame not to use this opportunity.

Lizzy

I guess we’ll have to roll with the punches at this point. I know that Dolion is looking for me. If he wants me, it’s me who he’s going to get. I’ll make sure he knows where I’m going to be. I’ll meet him and I’ll finish him.

Marco

I am not comfortable with the plan. Lizzy acting as bait is way too dangerous, but it seems that we have no other options.

***

Dolion

She is either very stupid or very smart. Lizzy is coming right into my hands by herself. It’ll take a second to kill her, but I am curious to know what she’s up to. I guess a quick chat won’t hurt.

Lizzy

On the day when the formula was ready, my father told me that while it disintegrates the virus almost instantly, my blood does the same trick in a matter of a couple of hours, but, in its pure form, it might even kill the carrier along the way. Because of some mutation, which apparently affected only some women, there is an element in my plasma that dissolves any types of pathogens as if it was acid, unlike in average people’s blood where white cells do the job of attacking invaders such as bacteria and viruses. When he told me that, I realized that I could not remember the last time I was sick. Like ever.

Had I been protected from the viruses all my life? Then, he explained to me that it would take a few drops to initiate the process.

So, I’m a deadly weapon now. Never thought that I’d be able to say that about myself.

Marco

The meeting has been set up. It breaks my heart that I won’t be able to be with her.

***

Dolion

I’ll get what I want very soon. I’ll have two days before the jump. It will be enough to make the antidote for myself and for all the necessary people on the other side.

Lizzy

I may never see Marco again. I’ve decided that tonight we will spend the night together and will become one. An inseparable union of two souls from different worlds that will live for eternity on a spiritual level even after their physical shapes cease to exist. I’m ready.

Marco

The night was confusing, magical, and painful. It seemed to last forever but ended too soon. We belong to each other now.

***

She entered the place that their contact had given them and saw him sitting alone at a table near a window. He was a broad-shouldered, heavyset, middle-aged man in dark clothes with a massive gold watch on his left wrist. The sunrays through the window made the top of his balding sweaty head shine like a silver coffee pot. She smiled when that comparison occurred to her.

He felt confident enough not to have his bodyguards with him inside. They were waiting for his signal in a van outside, ready to transport the blood from this soon-to-be-leaving-this-world young woman.

She came to his table and sat down.

“I don’t think it was a smart move but say what you have to and let’s do the inevitable,” he said. “All I need is one kiss,” she said, hardly opening her mouth.

“What?” he asked.

She sprang up, grabbed his head, and pulled it to her face. “What the…?” he began, trying to push her away.

She pressed her lips to his mouth. He groaned with pain and a tiny stream of blood trickled down his chin. He started to gasp for air and tried to spit out the blood, but she was holding him tightly.

At last, he could get away from her. He frantically wiped his mouth and spit. “You cut me!” he shrieked.

She spit something out on the floor and smiled, licking her lips with her bleeding tongue.

***

Dolion

It’s not over yet. It’ll be over when I say it is. She may have ruined the virus, but she didn’t eliminate my plan. I’ll find the way. I wish I had killed her before she opened her foul mouth. I just need some rest. I’m tired.

Lizzy

Marco’s idea of hiding a tiny razor in my mouth was brilliant. I couldn’t carry any weapons because I could have been searched on the way. Besides, I am no Lara Croft and wouldn’t know how to use them anyway. It took me awhile to learn how to handle the razor, and I was still afraid that I would cut my tongue in half before making an incision or, worse, I would swallow that steel thing accidentally.

Marco

I still can’t believe she made it out alive and safe. Blood is an amazing substance. It keeps us alive, transports oxygen, carries antibodies that fight infections, and it can also destroy you.

***

Lizzy

We’ve just heard that Dolion succumbed to the aftereffects of our intense “rendezvous.” My blood did the trick after all. We won’t rest on our laurels just yet though. We have a few more things to do. Dolion’s minions are still out there.

Marco

We didn’t really expect that to happen that soon, but somehow Lizzy’s blood was more powerful than we thought. She is special.

***

It was a beautiful summer day. The sun was shining, and the sky was clear. “I’m ready,” Lizzy said, taking Marco’s hand.

“Me too,” he said, and smiled.

“Are you absolutely sure you want to do this?” she asked. “Leaving this world for another?” he asked.

“Yeah, that,” she said smiling.

“Just clarifying, in case you meant something else,” he said and winked at her. “You’re such a smarty-pants!” She gently hit him on the shoulder.

“I don’t know what that means but it sounds a bit aggressive,” he said laughing.

“So many things you still need to learn,” she said. “I’m serious though. It’s a big step.” He hugged her.

“It doesn’t matter where I am, as long as I’m with you,” he said and kissed her on the lips. She smiled.

They both looked at the green flash appearing in front of them. He squeezed her hand and they both took a step.

Part 2: The Perfect Match

Prologue

He was sitting on the stone floor in the Hall of Prayer with his mind focused on the future and the worlds that he was going to create. He was about thirty-five, his head was shaved, and he was wearing a black kimono beneath black robes held shut in the front with a sash. It was quite chilly for August, but his body did not feel the cool wind that was coming through the open windows of the ancient pagoda nor the coldness of the old stones he was sitting on. He could feel that soon he would be able to project his power to the real world around him. The monks in the temple knew better than to disturb him during his meditations. For the past five years, his power had been constantly enhancing, and the monks could feel that too.

There were three steps in his process of achieving Control, where the power of his thought could make things move and bend other people’s ability to think and overpower their emotions. Before getting to Control, however, there were Calmness and Detachment. He was in the process of getting calm when a bright lightning of a sharp emotion pierced through his mind. He saw the image of his father. He frowned at this unexpected occurrence and opened his eyes.

“He’s dead,” he whispered.

He sat in silence for another minute. His face relaxed and a smile appeared. “At last.”

Chapter 1: Back to Business (Present Time)

“Look at the moon,” Lizzy said, pointing to the bright big blueish circle in the sky. “It looks lonely,” Marco said.

They were sitting outside a country cottage that used to belong to Lizzy’s late mother. There was no way for her to go back to the apartment she had shared with her dead boyfriend. The police were still looking for her in connection with the dead body that her neighbors started to smell and called the authorities to investigate. Her cousin Anastasia, her closest friend and next of kin, put away some of her stuff in storage after the police had cleared the crime scene. When Lizzy reached out to Anastasia, it took a lot of effort to convince her cousin that she was fine and not brainwashed by some cult. She explained to her that there was a reason she could not contact the police just yet. Lizzy also could not reveal why she was absent for more than two months and tried not to see any other friends to avoid interrogation. Everything had to be done discreetly. The less people knew she was back the better. Anastasia arranged for them to move into the cottage only after the police searched the place.

“It’s not lonely, it has the Earth,” she said and put her head on Marco’s shoulder. “Tonight, it’s called a blue moon.”

It was a bit cold outside, and they were wrapped in a quilt that Lizzy’s mother had bought in some mountain village in Thailand where she went with her father, Peter, before they got married.

“Is it always blue here?” he asked.

“It’s not blue at all. It’s just a name for the second full moon in a month, I think.” “How many full moons do you usually get?”

“I think there are twelve, but occasionally you get a thirteenth. That’s a blue moon.”

“I don’t think our moons get to be called anything. They’re just moons. Boring. I like your blue moon, even though it still looks lonely to me.”

“Tell me more about your world,” she said, getting cozier by his side.

“I need to learn more about yours to know the differences better, don’t I?” “True.”

“Will we have time to do that?” “I hope we will.”

She kissed him on the lips and stood up.

“We have a long day tomorrow,” she said, offering him her hand and pulling him to his feet.

***

The next day they were supposed to meet with their contact person — Peter’s acquaintance — who had promised to introduce them to a group called the Committee. The group was secretly working on eliminating the threat that was coming from the late Dolion’s supporters. There were three ladies — the group’s leaders — who held high positions in the medical research industry in three different countries, the US, Russia, and China. They knew about Lizzy’s role in eradicating Dolion and about the unique qualities of her blood. They were eager to meet her. The man — whom they were meeting — had called the cottage landline two days ago and introduced himself as Aaron. Marco was the one who talked to him and agreed on the details for the meeting.

Lizzy woke up early and watched Marco sleeping for a few minutes before jumping in the shower and starting breakfast. He walked in the kitchen, still slumberous, while she was making eggs, and hugged her from behind.

“Good morning,” he said and kissed her on the neck. “Hi, sleepyhead.”

“How’d you sleep?”

She had not been sleeping well ever since she was violently introduced to the other world. She did not want to bother Marco with her insomnia and never woke him up. She could fall asleep for a brief time, but that didn’t bring much relaxation. She would wake up and silently lie in bed, trying not to think about the dead people she knew or was about to get to know — Mark, Peter, and Beth. Despite the horrendous images of what she had witnessed or what her imagination had created in those nightmares, there was one more thing that bothered her. After they came back, among the flashbacks of the past two months, she started to see a person who stood at a distance looking at her. He was present in almost all her dreams. The image was not clear, just a male silhouette wearing a long coat.

“Ok, let’s eat and be on our way. What time are we meeting the man?” Lizzy asked. “Ten a.m. sharp, so we still have some time.”

She placed the pan with the eggs on a wooden cutting board that was already on the kitchen table, next to a watermelon they had bought at the farmer’s market the day before.

“Could you get the forks, please?” she asked Marco. “I’ll cut Mr. Watermelon here.” “No plates?”

“Let’s just eat from the pan. It’s faster that way and no need to wash dishes.” “Practical.”

She sliced the fruit in half, took one half and sliced it again into two equal parts. Then she took one of the quarters and cut it quickly into five triangles. After that she put each of the triangles on its side and cut the red flesh out, tossing the green rinds in the waste basket. The pulp triangles were also cut into cubes. She used her knife to scoop up the cubes and throw them into a large blue china bowl. She did the same with the other quarter, the entire process took two minutes.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Marco asked, watching her cutting method in fascination.

Lizzy smiled. “My mother learned that somewhere in Asia and always cut fruit that way. I guess I picked it up from her.”

“It’s fast,” Marco said and sat down at the table ready to eat.

***

Aaron — a short, balding overweight man in his 50’s – was standing on the side of the road next to the gas station two miles away from the cottage. They’d walked to the meeting spot through the forest that Lizzy knew very well. She used to walk here with her mother when she was a little girl. It was a good day for a walk – sunny and warm. They saw him before he spotted them.

“Is that him?” Lizzy asked.

“I think so,” Marco said and looked at his diver’s watch. “Fits the description and he’s on time.” “Is there a code word we’re supposed to use to make sure he is our guy?”

“He told me that he’d recognize us.” “Not much of a spy, is he?”

“Let’s do it then,” he said and took a step out of the thicket.

As soon as they were in the clear, Aaron acknowledged them with a nod and started to walk to a grey minivan that was parked near the gas station minimart’s entrance. He opened the driver’s door and slid the passenger door open. Then he got in the driver’s seat, closed the door, but left the passenger door open.

“I guess that’s our cue,” Marco said.

They walked to the van and climbed into the back.

“You’re to follow the instructions,” Aaron said as soon as they closed the door and gave them a large manila envelope. “There are two passports, the car key, and some money.”

“We have a car,” Lizzy said.

“Not anymore,” Aaron said. “Our people are taking it from your cottage as we speak.” “Why?” Marco asked.

“It’s not safe to use the same car.” “Where’s our new ride then?”

“You are sitting in it,” Aaron said and opened his door. “Wait,” Lizzy said. “Are you leaving?”

“You’re to follow the instructions,” Aaron said and left the car.

They watched him walking quickly across the gas station pavement and getting in a black pick-up truck parked on the other side — which took off the second he had climbed in.

“That was some spy work right there,” Lizzy smiled. Marco looked inside the envelope.

“Well, it’s all in there: the money, the passports, and the key.” “Where are the instructions?”

Marco took out a white sheet of paper and looked at it. “I guess this is it.”

***

When they drove back to the cottage in their new car, their old car was gone. They entered the cottage and found a new laptop on the kitchen table and a brand-new iPhone with a charger.

“It says here that we need to turn on the computer. There will be a link to a Zoom meeting on the desktop,” Marco said as he looked at the piece of paper.

“All right,” Lizzy said, opening the device. “We could’ve done it on the phone, though.”

The computer screen lit up and they saw an empty desktop with only one folder named The Link.

“That’s foolproof,” Lizzy said with a smile.

She clicked on the folder, saw the link, and double-clicked. A Zoom meeting began. The host had already started the meeting, but both his or her camera and microphone were deactivated.

Marco and Lizzy were looking at the screen, waiting for something to happen. “Are we supposed to do something now?” Lizzy asked, frowning.

Marco looked in the sheet again. “It just says open your computer and use the link.” “Hello,” she said to the screen. “Anyone there?”

The host’s window showed that the image had started to upload. Someone was joining the meeting. Finally, they saw a pixelated image of an old Black woman in a room with white empty walls. She was saying something, but there was no sound. Marco pointed to the screen, to microphone symbol that was crossed by a red line.

“Your microphone is off,” Lizzy said to the lady. The woman jerked and looked at her screen.

“Oh, my goodness,” they heard her cheery voice. “Is it working now? Can you hear me?” “Yes, we can,” Lizzy said.

“Good, I’m still getting used to these bells and whistles,” the lady said, smiling. “What happened to the good old face-to-face, right?”

Marco and Lizzy both nodded, agreeing.

“Anyway, Lizzy and Marco, how are you kids doing?”

Lizzy and Marco looked at each other. “We’re fine,” Lizzy said.

“Oh, good,” the lady said. “My name is Yana. I represent the Committee, and I have a lot to tell you today. So, get comfortable.”

***

The next day, Lizzy woke up early in the morning, surprised that she actually slept for a few hours. She felt reinvigorated, but there was a feeling that she had forgotten something important. She looked at Marco who was sleeping peacefully at her side, and then got up.

She decided to do some yoga, something that she had not done since the day her life dramatically changed a couple of months ago. It seemed that the body remembered all the asanas to relax the brain and the muscles. She was doing the exercises in her underwear and felt the sunbeams on her skin. It was the first time she felt any sense of normalcy in the past two months.

She was still getting used to the idea of being with Marco, which was extremely hard since he looked so much like Mark. It was still confusing, but for some reason she could not explain even to herself it felt right to be with the copy of her ex-boyfriend. It did not feel like she was somehow desecrating Mark’s memory. On the contrary, it felt like she was given another chance to build her life with the same man who happened to have a back-up copy in the parallel world. But… it still confused the hell out of her. She would definitely spend some serious time with a therapist discussing this conundrum if she could.

After a quick shower, she sat down in the kitchen with a cup of coffee to read what Yana, the first leader of the Committee they had met so far, had sent after the meeting. It was a file with the names of people that were connected to Dolion and who were supposed to be actively involved in virus distribution. According to Yana, they had the original variant of the virus. Dolion called it Potestas Dei (Power of God). It was very surprising to learn about that because Lizzy and Marco were under the impression that they had destroyed the virus.

“It takes many variants to get the one you really want,” Yana had told them during the meeting. “Dolion had the final one and you destroyed it. There are still some people who can create a more powerful version and that is why we need to eliminate any trace of it.”

Lizzy looked at the geography of the locations of the Dolion’s Gang – that was what she named it– which was in the file. No wonder they needed passports. It looked like they would have to do a bit of travelling.

“They have a few centers where they develop their new variants. Fortunately, we infiltrated our people in all of them. Still, it will not be easy to do what we want.” Despite Yana’s cheerful demeanor, it was obvious that what she was talking about took a lot of doing.

Lizzy checked the places they needed to go first. Those were two destinations in the US and did not even require travelling by plane.

“We are working on the way to use the uniqueness of your blood in, say, a less dramatic way. So, we will be meeting at some point soon to do some tests.”

Without getting into too many details, Yana had explained Lizzy and Marco that the Committee had been in touch with Peter’s team and monitored their activities in the parallel world, so they knew how Lizzy got rid of Dolion and his virus.

Lizzy went over the highlights of the meeting in her head one more time: the gang was around the world, she will go through some tests, and they will travel. So far, things did not sound complicated. The thought was both comforting and disturbing. Today’s list of things was also straightforward: they would go to the specified address, change cars, and someone would drive them to a research facility the Committee had. They would take some of her blood and would do a few tests.

Her life had changed so much over the fleeting period of time. Those changes were making her a tougher person. She was not sure whether she liked that person, but she had to embrace the metamorphosis to survive. She felt a pang of nostalgia for the life she had, and a tear spilled down her cheek.

“Should I make us some breakfast?” she heard Marco’s voice.

She wiped the tear, turned to Marco, and smiled. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”

When she said that – just for a split of a second – she saw a man standing behind Marco. It was the man from her dreams. She suddenly remembered that she had seen him again last night in her dream. She shut her eyes and opened them again. The man was gone.

“Are you ok?” Marco said.

“Yeah, just a… I’m hungry. Let’s eat already!”

They started to make breakfast together and the image of the man slowly faded from her memory.

She could still remember what he’d been wearing though – a black kimono.

Chapter 2: Super Lizzy (Present Time)

The place at which they arrived with their new driver, Tom — a young man who had picked them up not too far away from the cottage — looked like a regular bakery. There were some patrons inside, enjoying freshly baked pastries and hot beverages. Lizzy tried to remember what day it was and why there were so many people out of office so shamelessly enjoying this nice weather and this cozy place. She could not. It did not really matter, but it smelled amazing. Any day you are alive is a good day, she thought.

They approached the counter. Tom ordered three espressos to go, without asking Lizzy and Marco whether they wanted anything. Then he showed them to the table in the corner, next to a female customer who was reading a book. They sat down and waited for the order without exchanging so much as a few phrases. Tom had been taciturn all the way to the bakery and did not seem like he was going to turn into a chatterbox any time soon. So, Lizzy and Marco were just sitting and waiting for whatever was going to happen.

“Tom,” the barista announced from behind the counter. “Your order’s ready.”

Tom stood up, took the order, and proceeded to the exit, without returning to the table and taking the coffee with him. Lizzy and Marco watched him with surprise. When they were about to stand up and follow him, a lady who was sitting at the table next to them turned and smiled.

“Hi Lizzy, Marco,” she said. “It’s good to finally meet you. I’m Irene.”

Irene was a white lady, about the same age as Yana. She had an intelligent face and looked like a university professor in her brown horn-rimmed glasses, and a beige jacket over a white blouse. She was the second leader of the Committee.

“Tom is leaving and I’m afraid you’ll have to spend a bit of time with me now,” Irene said. “Would you actually like something to drink?”

They went back to the counter. Lizzy ordered a macchiato and a scone, which she had been craving for some time. Marco got himself a cup of tea and a chocolate croissant, which for some unfathomable reason he had never had.

“How on earth have you never tried one?” Lizzy couldn’t give it a rest on the way back to the table.

“I don’t know,” Marco said, sitting down. “Let’s see if I was really missing anything.”

Irene was patiently waiting for them to enjoy their beverages and food with a smile on her face. Marco realized that he had missed a lot and announced that he was going to have a chocolate croissant every day for the rest of his life. Both ladies applauded his decision.

“Well, let’s talk shop,” Irene said when the beverages and food were finished. “We’ll have to take a few samples of your blood and do a few tests. There’s this new technology that we’re still working on, but getting closer each day, which will allow us to eradicate any threat that viruses from the Two Moons may pose.”

“The Two Moons?” Lizzy asked.

“Well, it’s actually called Terra, but we call it the Two Moons among ourselves,” Irene said. Marco smiled.

“Have you been there?” Lizzy asked. “A few times.”

“How do you explain the very existence of it?”

“Without getting too deep into the inflationary multiverse theories and trying to explain unresolvable metaphysical issues, I can only shrug and say there it is, and I have no clue why it’s there. Your father spent quite a bit of time researching the phenomenon. I believe he shared some of it with you. I can tell you one thing though. I don’t have a copy there.” She ended with a smile.

“You’re unique then,” Marco smiled.

“I suppose I am, but we aren’t going to talk about my uniqueness today. You, Lizzy, have Ro subtype, which means that you most likely have Black African or Black Caribbean ethnic background, but that alone does not make your blood unique. What makes your blood incredibly special is not its ability to treat some blood-related disorders, which your rare type is known for, but its ability to disintegrate viruses. It’s something that we still don’t know much about, but we are working extremely hard to understand it. We believe it’s some sort of a mutation and we’re planning to make it work for our cause.”

“So, I’m a mutant,” Lizzy said and looked at Marco. “How does it feel to live with one?”

“I’m a copy and you’re a mutant. Birds of a feather flock together, right?” he said with a smile. “Different types of birds, but yeah, we are flocking together, aren’t we?” Lizzy covered Marco’s hand with hers.

Irene looked at her watch. “I’m afraid we should be going now. My associates are waiting for us. They are ready to start.”

***

Tom — who was waiting for them in the car — took them all to another location that was conveniently hidden in the forest on the outskirts of the city. It took them an hour to get there during which Irene was chatting with Lizzy and Marco about everything but the purpose of their trip.

“We’re here,” Irene said when their car stopped in front of huge green gates. “These gates are big enough for Jurassic Park,” Lizzy said.

“The person who used to own the place was, shall we say, a bit concerned with his security. He gave this place to us, and it’s been our research center for some time now.”

When the gates slowly opened, Tom drove inside, nodding to two guards in civilian clothes who nodded back. Lizzy noticed that the guards were armed with automatic rifles.

The inside looked more like a recreational space with a country house — which it probably was — with three smaller buildings. The main building, which appeared to be a big hunting lodge, could have been designed for a royal family and its entourage. The first floor was built with big soft beige stones and the second floor sported large brown pine logs. The attic was under a steep tiled roof with a big, red-bricked chimney that suggested a fireplace. The three other buildings, perhaps guest houses and space for staff were designed to complement the main building. The whole ensemble provided a sense of comfort and a feeling of rustic nobility with its earthy tones. The area was covered with evenly trimmed grass and stone trails that connected each building on the premises. There were no people outside, except for the guards at the gate.

Tom pulled over in front of the main entrance of the house and helped Irene get out of the car. Not that she needed any assistance, it was more of a gesture of respect.

“It’s spacious,” Marco said when he got out of the car, right after Lizzy. “We’re happy with it,” Irene said, and showed them into the house.

As they were getting closer to the house, the massive wooden entrance door opened and a spectacled man in his forties with a beard and in a white doctor’s coat came out to greet them.

“This is Albert,” Irene said. “He’ll be working with you today, Lizzy.”

“Hi Lizzy and Marco,” Albert said. “It’s great to finally meet you both. Please, come in.”

The entrance hall was what one would expect from a hunting lodge — the walls covered with antlers and a few paintings of hunting dogs. The comparison ended as soon as they proceeded to the former living room, which was turned into a laboratory with various equipment that neither Lizzy nor Marco knew the purpose of. There were two female scientists who were busy looking into microscopes and computer screens and barely noticed the visitors.

“This is our team and the place of business, so to speak,” Albert said. “I’m afraid I’ll have to steal Lizzy from you, Marco, for the rest of the day.”

“There’s a nice room upstairs where you’ll be quite comfortable,” Irene told Marco.

“Yes, there are books, a computer, snacks and a fridge with beverages,” Albert added enthusiastically.

Lizzy looked at Marco who didn’t look like he liked the idea of being away from her. “I’ll be fine.

Go get some rest.” Then she looked at Albert. “I’ll be allowed bathroom breaks, won’t I?” “Oh, sure. Of course. There’ll be lunch and dinner.”

“You see?” Lizzy took Marco’s hand. “I’ll see you later.”

***

Lizzy came to see Marco twice during the day. They had a quick lunch from plastic containers that Albert brought. It was simple — turkey sandwiches with some salad — but delicious. After five hours, which Marco spent watching two old movies (Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Godfather, Part 1) and browsing through some old magazines, they had another plastic container meal. Chicken pasta and cheesecake. Not Michelin quality, but passable. Lizzy did not have enough information to tell Marco what exactly she was doing downstairs, or, rather, what they were doing to her. She told him that she felt like a frog in a biology classroom. She hoped that they were not going to dissect at the end of the class. Both of them were equally shocked to find out the similarities between the movies in their worlds. They spent the minutes they had together comparing Indiana Jones with Tom Lesseck, the adventurous geologist, and Michael Corleone with Paco De Niro, the cold-blooded mafia boss (the fictional characters from the other world, which Marco was a big fan of). Lizzy promised to watch the movies Marco grew up with the next time they went to the Two Moons.

At about 10 p.m., Lizzy came up and woke up Marco who apparently found Sleepless in Seatle too relaxing. Tom was waiting for them downstairs. Lizzy was tired and took a nap all the way back to their cottage, resting her head on Marco’s shoulder. Marco barely moved, watching the stars through the car window. When they got home, she was still asleep, Marco took her gently in his hands to the bedroom and covered her with a blanket. When Marco returned to the car to get their coats, Tom told him that he would pick them up at 8 a.m. tomorrow and left. Marco went back to the bedroom, lay down next to Lizzy and watched her peacefully sleeping with a smile on his face before falling asleep as well.

***

The next day went pretty much the same way. Tests for Lizzy and cultural catching-up for Marco (The Shawshank Redemption, Misery, Good Will Hunting, and Pulp Fiction). When it was time to stop for the day, Albert showed Lizzy the prototype of the device that his team had been working on before they met her.

“It looks like a glove that you would use for a workout at the gym,” she said, looking at it.

“That’s the idea!” Albert was obviously happy to hear it. “We don’t want people to think that they are looking at a weapon.”

“Is that what it is? A weapon?”

“Of sorts. It’ll be using your blood to destroy the virus.”

“How will it work? I’ll just wear it and what will happen next?”

“The idea is for you to use it without spilling your blood literally but sending impulses that destroy the virus — even through glass. Provided that it’s not bulletproofed, of course. We still need to work on that.”

“I don’t think I understand that.”

“It sounds a bit science fiction, I know.” “A bit?”

“You’re right,” Albert laughed. “It sounds a lot like science fictions, but we believe that we’ve found a way to use your blood’s unique qualities and transform them into… sort of, waves that could penetrate the virus coat, or membrane, split it apart, and eventually destroy its molecular compounds. The glove generates the wave and sends it, together with your blood, to do its job.”

“So, hypothetically speaking, someone will have a vial with my blood connected to this glove and… just go around and touch people or things with viruses. Is that how it’s going to work?”

“I wish it was that easy. As things stand now, I’m afraid it only works if you wear it. It must be connected to you.”

“Like Ironman’s reactor,” Lizzy said, still looking at the glove. “The proof that Tony Stark has a heart.”

Albert’s face lit up.

“It’s more like a repulsar, you know, those little reactors on the palms of Tony Stark’s Iron Man suit, but you get the gist,” he said with a smile.

“So, this is Mark One, Tony’s first suit from Iron Man One, we’re working on, right?” Lizzy asked.

“Well technically, this particular prototype is Marco Two, if we use that logic. It ‘flies’ well, but it needs a pilot to navigate it.”

“That would be me.” “Correct.”

“Ok, so, when are we going to take this baby for a spin?” “We’ll do it tomorrow.”

“Big day, huh?” Lizzy said and gave the glove back to Albert. “Should I eat something special or starve myself before the test?”

“Have your regular breakfast. We need to attune the glove to all possible situations.”

On the way back home, Lizzy suggested Marco watch all Ironman movies. It was Man of Steel in his world and the name of the superhero was Tim Scott. He was a member of the “Punishers’ Club.”

***

When Lizzy and Marco were getting out of the car the next morning, Irene came out of the center with Yana following her.

“Good morning,” Yana said, smiling. “Good to see you two in flesh.” “Hey, Yana,” Marco said. “Good to see you too.”

“I believe you’ve been briefed about today’s test,” Irene said, looking at Lizzy.

“Should I change my name to Tonya?” she asked, changing Tony Stark’s name to Tonya.

No one got the joke. Either Lizzy wasn’t nerdy enough to pull it off or it was the wrong crowd.

She decided it was both.

“No need for any name changing,” Yana said, seemingly puzzled. “We’ll just see if Albert’s idea actually works.”

“I hope it does,” Irene said. “Shall we?”

They all proceeded to the house, where Albert and his team (Shawna and Latosha) were as excited as little children before a birthday party. A special enclosed space was arranged for the test to make sure that no one got hurt. There was a transparent glass container with some vials containing viruses (not lethal ones). Lizzy was to wear a protective suit with electronic sensors for recording her activity and the impact the glove was going to make around her, if any. She would also be wearing a special mask to protect her eyes. Shawna and Latosha were going to operate two video cameras to record the test.

Albert explained the test step by step to the present company. Lizzy was going to go through the process of connecting to the glove and activating it. Then she was supposed to go inside and place her gloved hand on the container for a minute. In theory, this would be enough to destroy the harmless viruses inside the vials. If that worked well, they would move to the second part of the test — the same procedure with dangerous viruses. The success of the test depended on the level of the destruction and the time spent on the entire process.

“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Lizzy said, after the briefing. “When are we going to start?” “As soon as you’re ready to put on the suit,” Albert said.

“I’m ready. Show me where the fitting room is around here.”

***

The feeling of being connected to the glove was exhilarating. It felt as if Lizzy’s hand acquired an enhancement. The tiny needles inside tickled the skin of her hand ever so gently, causing no pain whatsoever.

“Breathe,” Albert said. “Your blood pressure is a bit too high.” “I think I feel high,” Lizzy said.

“That’s the chemical solution to prepare your blood to shoot with the impulse that penetrates both the glass and the virus. It might make you feel a bit loopy. Nothing to worry about. You just need to breathe, calm down and focus on your job.”

“All right, it’s good that I won’t need to drive and shoot at the same time, because it feels like I had a doobie or something.”

“You’ll get used to it… but, just in case, don’t smoke anything while wearing it.” “I’m not a smoker.”

“Good, now let’s get inside and see what this baby can do.”

Lizzy went inside the transparent cube with the vials. Apart from her, there was only Shawna and Latosha in the room. Irene, Yana, and Marco were watching the test in the room upstairs on a big TV set.

“So, I’m just placing my hand on the container?” she asked, without taking her eyes off the glove. “Right,” Albert said. “No need to gawk at the glove all the time. It’s not going anywhere.” “Oh, ok.”

“It’ll take thirty seconds or so for the glove to finish the job.” “Here we go.”

She approached the container and put her gloved hand on the top. She felt a bit of heat coming from the glove and looked at Albert, who was monitoring the situation on the computer screens. She wanted to ask whether the heat was normal but decided not to do that. He’ll tell me if he sees something, she thought.

“Should I count?” she asked instead. “If you want to.”

“One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi…”

“Or don’t,” Albert said with a smile. “We have a clock here.”

Apart from the slightly increasing heat and prickling, things didn’t seem to change much. “How am I doing so far?” Lizzy asked.

“You’re doing great,” Albert’s eyes were on the monitors. “Now, take your hand off.” She did and the heat started to subside, along with the prickling sensation.

“You can leave the cube.”

“Is that it?” she asked, raising her eyebrows. “Yes.”

“Did it work?” Lizzy asked when she was out.

“I think it did.” Albert was still staring at the screen. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I am,” he said with a smile, taking his eyes off the monitor. “It’s been destroyed.” Lizzy thought that she heard some cheering from upstairs and broke into a smile. “How are you feeling, Lizzy?” came Irene’s voice through a speaker.

“Good,” she said, looking at Albert. “Shall we proceed with the real one?” “If you feel up to it,” he said.

***

On the way back to the cottage, Lizzy was exhausted. She was quietly listening to Marco going over the test results with a smile on her face. It was funny to see how excited he was about the success of the experiment.

“You looked like a real Man of Steel with that glove back there,” he said. “You mean Iron Man?” she asked him jokingly.

“I’ll tell you what. You’re both and more,” he said and kissed her on the lips. “You’re Super Lizzy.”

Chapter 3: Lizzy’s Diary, Part 2 (Present Time)

Once again, I want to record things that have happened to me while they are still fresh in my memory. I feel that I am about to embark on another life-changing journey, and I want to remember every detail of it.

After a month of training with the glove, I felt both comfortable and confident using it. To speed up the process, Marco and I temporarily sealed up our cottage and moved to one of the houses near the center. The technology worked and it was tweaked and improved with every test they took. Even though Marco enjoyed his cinematographic cultural course, he was getting a bit restless, and Albert found some work for him as well. The glove needed to be recharged after each “mission” in order not to take unnecessary energy from me, which could result in extreme fatigue. Albert designed a portable recharger to be carried around. Its only drawback was its weight; it was too heavy for me. Marco was the man for the job, which he accepted gladly.

Apart from the glove testing, we spent a bit of time with Irene and Yana discussing the next step in the mission, which was the actual virus elimination. I remember one sunny October afternoon when we were all sitting outside, enjoying our short break and hot cocoa. I wondered if there were any updates from “the other camp.”

“What have the bad boys been doing all this time?” I asked Irene and Yana.

“Working on new variants while we’ve been busy on our glove,” Irene said. “People get sick around the world and we’re picking up some disturbing tendences.”

“The good thing is,” Yana said, “with the new little toy Albert invented, theoretically, it does not matter how many variants they’ll produce. The glove’s antiviral impulse isn’t specific to one virus or protein on its surface, so it will destroy new viruses that emerge straight away and will overcome the development of any resistance. Potentially, this technology could make all vaccines obsolete.”

“Sounds lethal” Marco said, gently sipping his hot beverage.

“It is,” Irene said. “So, we want you, Lizzy, to be extra careful while using the glove because we don’t entirely understand whether there are any negative implications on the carrier. Needless to say, we don’t want it end up in the wrong hands either.”

“It’s been all right so far,” I said. “Apart from slight headaches, I’ve been ok. Besides, Shawna and Latosha are recording every step I take – even when I go the bathroom.”

The lack of privacy was something I had to get used to, but I felt that this little sacrifice was for the right reasons. In a way, it even made me feel protected.

“It’s their job,” Yana said, smiling. “Have you been sleeping well?”

I had mentioned my insomnia to the research team to make sure they had the whole picture of my health situation. I omitted the fact of seeing the man in a black kimono… who stopped showing up in my dreams since I started working with the glove.

“I have. Sleeping like a baby,” I said and winked at Marco.

Then Irene showed us the plan that showed the places of virus production Marco and I were going to visit and the details of how we were going to get in. In order not to draw any attention to our mission, it had been decided that it would only be the two of us handling the viruses. We would get some assistance from the Committee’s people on the ground and Albert’s team online.

There were three centers altogether.

I felt both nervous and excited about it. The fact that the Committee trusted us meant a lot to me, but I was not really sure that I was up for the job. Marco seemed to be confident that we could do it and, gradually, his confidence sifted through my uneasiness into my mind, making me feel less worried.

Three centers to go.

According to our “traveling itinerary” (that’s what Marco called it), our first target was a few hundred kilometers from us. In fact, the place was not too far away from the cave in the Adirondack Mountains where my father had stepped from the green, pulsating ball of light. Marco and I drove there in the minivan that was equipped with all the necessary gear and supplies that we could possibly need during the trip, including a powerful police-edition taser and a gun.

The hub was situated in a rural area and was hidden behind a green fence with a line of densely planted pine trees behind it along the perimeter. It was impossible to see what was behind the wall, but we were not too worried about that because, thanks to our contact inside, we had a detailed plan of the area, down to the combination of the lock to the room we needed to get into and while Albert and his team would hack specific cameras inside.

We arrived two hours before we were supposed to meet with our contact, Consuela, and parked a few hundred meters away from the entrance point and the security cameras. That gave us enough time to prepare the glove and go over the details of what we were going to do inside and have a light snack. It was getting dark. When we were finishing our sandwiches, a female silhouette appeared in the rear-view mirror with a flashlight. She flicked it three times. That was our contact and the signal for us to disembark.

Consuela, a pleasant-looking woman in her thirties, was still wearing her working overalls with an embroidered with the words “Paws of Love,” the name of the veterinarian research center and our place of business for tonight. She led us to the back door through a patch of pine trees.

“Everyone has gone home,” she said. “I haven’t activated the alarm system yet. I’m supposed to throw away the trash in the large garbage bin outside at the end of each working day.”

“Will the security get suspicious?” Marco asked.

“Nah, I’ve been doing it for some time now for them to get used to it. I would go out for a minute and come back. With each trip, I would just make that minute longer. Speaking of which, we must hurry up.”

We quickened our pace and soon were at the back door. “What about the cameras?” I asked her.

“They won’t you see in this,” she said, led us to a large shopping cart, which looked like a large shopping cart.

We climbed in it and Consuela covered us with a canvas cloth.

“Here we go,” we heard her say as we felt the movement of the cart.

After a few minutes of rattling and a short elevator trip, we stopped, and she let us out. We were in the maintenance room in the basement of the center.

“Do you know how much time you have?” she asked us.

“Three minutes,” Marco said, remembering the instructions we had received prior to the mission, and pressed a button on the electronic watch Albert had given him, activating the stopwatch. “The cameras in the area will be showing empty corridors for a minute or so, right?”

“That’s what Albert told me, and I hope he’s right.”

Consuela opened the door of the room, peeked outside, and gave a thumbs up. It did not take us a long time — a few turns down the grey-walled corridor — to get to the door we were looking for. We made sure that our faces were not exposed to the camera above the door just in case. The door had a code lock. Marco punched the digits 19260474, and it clicked opened. We quickly entered and shut the door behind us.

We found ourselves in a dimly lit lab with two rows of animal cages along the walls. At the other end of the room, there was a big glass container, the size of a refrigerator, with vials in it. It looked remarkably similar to the one I was practicing with back in the center. As we were carefully walking toward the container, I noticed that the cages were not empty. There were different breeds of dogs in them. The animals kept quiet, watching us tiptoeing through the room. There was no time to feel anything for the poor creatures that were locked in this dark place. I only hoped that they were not treated badly.

I activated the glove and felt the familiar sensation of the nano needles inside doing their job extracting the power of my blood. I focused on what I was about to do and placed my hand on the container. Thanks to the training, I did not have to use the Mississippi count to know how much time I had. I could feel the impulses of the device and could tell when it was over. My heart was racing, but my brain stayed cool.

“You’re slaying the dragon, so keep it together until the job’s done,” Albert told me, using his strange metaphors every time I got carried away during the practice. Surprisingly, it worked for me when I imagined myself standing in front of a flamethrowing beast. It made me calmer and focused.

I nodded to Marco, who was surveying the place and keeping his eye on the door. The dragon was slain. It took a minute and a half, and it was time to leave. I bid a silent farewell to all those creatures in the cages, and we stepped out of the lab.

We returned to the maintenance room where Consuela, already changed into her civilian jeans and hoodie, was waiting for us.

“Change of plans, guys,” she said. “The next security shift came earlier than usual. I won’t be able to push that cart back without them noticing it. So, I’m going to distract them with some ‘Consuela chit- chat’ and you try to leave the place the same way we entered.”

“What about the security cameras?” Marco asked.

“They usually check the recording the next day, provided there were no incidents, but I won’t be returning to work tomorrow to find that out,” she said, smiling. “The job’s done, right?”

We both nodded that it was.

“So, let’s just get the heck out of here nice and easy, all right?”

We could not agree more. We moved out and proceeded to the elevator.

“You take the stairs,” Consuela said, showing us the fire escape door. “They haven’t installed the cameras in there yet. Once you are on Level One, after my signal, turn right and you’ll see the door with the exit sign in about ten meters. That’s your door. You know the code, right?”

We did.

“What’s the signal?” Marco asked.

“I’ll knock three times on the door. Let’s go,” she said and pressed the elevator button.

We took the stairs and waited for her signal to come out when we got to Level One. We heard muffled sounds of a brief conversation and then the three knocks. Marco slowly opened the door and saw Consuela’s back. She was blocking the view of the security guard so that he would not be able to see us behind her. As we stepped in the corridor and started to walk to the exit, the fire escape door shut with a loud squeak behind us.

“What was that?” we heard a male voice say. We started running.

“The wind got inside through the ventilation system,” Consuela said, still blocking the view. “Let me go and check.”

“I’ll do it,” the male said, and we heard some rattling noises of a keyring.

“Come on, Bruce.” Consuela was not giving up. “Just stay in your office and I’ll let you know if anything’s up.”

Marco punched the code, and the door opened. In a matter of a second, we were out.

Two centers to go.

The next place on the itinerary was in the center of the city, a three-hour drive from our research and training facility. The lab with viruses was on the top floor of a skyscraper that belonged to one of Dolion’s powerful allies, an extremely rich oil tycoon. It was much trickier to get in, but we also had a person inside, who was in fact one of the security officers. We had to wait for his shift to do the job, which was three days away.

Marco suggested a short vacation. Just the two of us, away from missions and the lab equipment. I thought it was a great idea. After confirming with the team that it was okay, we drove to the ocean shore to get some salt air in our lungs. It felt great to be out, not to think about “work” for a few days. The work part wasn’t hard, but not thinking about our past was much harder. Marco and I had agreed not to bring up the subject of our lost partners unless it was absolutely necessary.

When we were facing death in the other world, we’d made a pact to be together no matter what. We’d felt like we owed it to Beth and Mark. They’d sacrificed their lives so that we could live. Human nature, however, is a complicated thing to control. Your heart and your mind do not get along well all the time. I could not help but start comparing subconsciously when I looked at Marco. It was amazing how these parallel realities could create identical and yet different people. I wondered if he felt the same way but did my best not to ask him. So, it was a bit of a surprise when Marco asked me if I ever thought about the other Marco.

“I don’t mean to sound jealous or anything, but I sometimes think about Beth. I kind of feel guilty every time I do that, though.”

We were sitting on an old bench a few meters away from the ocean. A couple of seagulls were circling in the sky waiting for someone to throw a piece of bread at them. There were not too many people around on the pier because it was a weekday afternoon, and it was a bit windy. I snuggled up to Marco to keep warm but had to sit straight to look at him in the eyes.

“You shouldn’t feel guilty,” I said. “You too?”

“Yes, I also think about him… sometimes. It’s just we agreed not to…”

“Right. I didn’t want to talk about it, but this place reminded me of the time when we didn’t have to run or eliminate things, you know?”

“Totally,” I said and took his hand in mine. “We should talk about these things.” “You think so?” He looked straight in my eyes.

“I do. There should be nothing unsaid between us. We’re in constant danger as it is, and we might not have too much time, you know?”

“So, truth all the way? Cross your heart?” He stretched his pinky out for a pinky-swear. “I cross my heart.” I smiled and shook his pinky with mine.

“You know what? I just remembered what we used to say as kids when we piggy swore.” “You mean pinky swore?”

“Make friends, make friends. Never ever break friends. If you do, you’ll catch the flu, and that will be the end of you!”

“Wow, that’s brutal.”

“Kind of scary if you think about it. I just realized it.”

“Do you, um, want to talk about Lizzy?” I asked him after a short pause.

Marco looked at his watch thoughtfully. “Maybe not now,” he said. “I just wanted to know how you’d feel about it if I did.”

“I’d be fine with that.” I snuggled up back to him.

***

I would love to write more about our holiday. It was wonderful, but short. We had a couple great meals (sea food, white wine, and some long-forgotten mind-blowing desserts) and nice walks along the shore. I loved every second of it.

We were back to “the office” on Saturday morning and we were incredibly happy to know that Consuela wasn’t in any danger. The people from Paws of Love attributed the virus’s death to some unforeseen natural causes. Go glove!

“Are you guys afraid of heights?” Albert asked us during the next mission’s briefing. “I am,” Marco said and looked at me. “You?”

“I’m not really,” I said, but then remembered that Mark hadn’t been. We had some crazy trips, involving extreme hiking and roller coasters. I suddenly felt a nag to ask whether Beth was but thought better of it. “Why do you ask?” I asked Albert.

“Well, I’m afraid that we’ll have to drop you off on the next destination. I hope you noticed that I used ‘on’ instead of ‘at.’”

We did.

“A helicopter ride, before you ask anything,” he continued. “It’ll be fun. You’ll see the night city from above.”

So, we were slowly turning from superheroes into Mission Impossible characters. I made a mental note to ask Marco who played Tom Cruise’s role in his world.

Meanwhile, Albert was getting into details on how we were going to fly to the place and “fast-rope” out of the aircraft onto the roof of a skyscraper. James, the contact guy, was going to disable the security cameras on the roof and unlock the doors. We would have only one shot at this, and James was to leave with us after we were done. To make sure we would not fall off the rope, Albert showed us a few videos of the technique of using a thick rope to slide out of the helicopter. He showed us the heat- resistant gloves we would use to protect our hands from the heat of friction while descending.

As I was listening to what we were about to do, it occurred to me that it all sounded as natural as planning to go shopping — something I used to discuss with my girlfriends only six months ago. The thought distracted me for a minute, and it made me miss the life I had… but surprisingly not that much. Was there a way back to what I used to be? Would it be possible to return to the old ways, knowing what I knew now?

“Lizzy?” Albert’s question returned me to the parallel-universe reality. “Do you have any questions?”

“I’m good,” I said and looked at Marco. “Do you have any questions?”

“It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Hop on the chopper, wait until the pilot gives the signal, jump on the roof, do the thing and leave,” he said.

“We’re both good,” I said to Albert and looked at Marco again. “Do you also say ‘chopper’ on Two Moons?”

“No, Albert just used it. We call helicopters whirligigs,” Marco said and made whirling gestures with his index finger accompanied by pretty realistic helicopter sounds.

“Whatever you guys call it, you should be on one in two hours, so let’s get ready,” Albert said.

The car ride to the heliport took an hour. There, we found a private small black helicopter, ready to take off. There were two people – the pilot and the assistant. When I got inside, I realized that I had never been in a helicopter before. I suddenly felt a bit nervous, took Marco’s hand and held it tightly. Marco nodded and smiled.

“I’m sure she knows what she’s doing,” he said, pointing to the pilot, who did not identify herself and was quiet during the flight.

The assistant went through the descending procedure with us to make sure we knew the drill, which we had not actually done before. When he finished, we saw the skyscraper and heard the pilot’s signal to get ready. I started to hum the theme soundtrack from Mission Impossible subconsciously and could not get rid of it. I was sure that no one could hear it, because of the noise of the helicopter’s engine. It became a real earworm, but it kept my spirits up.

The assistant opened the side door, checked the thick rope that was attached to a bar on the fuselage of the helicopter. He found it satisfactory and with the palm of his hand upwards he gave us a sign to get on our feet and get ready to slide. I went first. The helicopter was hovering a few meters above the roof, and I clearly saw the H sign in the middle of the big circle on the roof. The sliding took a few seconds, but it took my breath away. It was both scary and exciting. I was humming my song even louder when I stood on the roof, holding the rope for Marco. He joined me momentarily. We gave a thumbs up to the assistant and started to run towards the exit door where we saw James waiting for us. As we entered the building, James shut the door, muffling the sound of the helicopter flying away. He was wearing his black security uniform, complete with a walkie-talkie and a handgun in a holster on his belt.

“We’ve got three minutes,” he said. “No talk beyond this point.”

We nodded and followed him downstairs. The lab was two floors down. As we were running down, I put the glove on and activated it. I was getting better and faster at it.

Our target was the in middle of the floor and it had no windows that we could use to get inside. So we had to take corridors with motion detectors to get to the door of the lab, open it and do the job. It was good because I could not imagine either Marco nor myself climbing the wall and making holes in the glass with some laser cutters.

James could not deactivate the detectors, but he was the chief security officer who would get the notification of the breach first. That would give us a few minutes, which was enough, before the rest of the security team would arrive to check the reason for the alert. James was going to stall them for another minute or two.

We ran down the corridor, taking multiple turns, and got to the lab in two minutes. James gave us a sign to hurry up and went to check if there was any commotion. Marco punched the code for the door lock that James had sent to the Committee two days ago. It didn’t work. Marco punched it in again.

Nothing.

“James,” I whispered loudly. “What?” We heard him say.

“The code doesn’t work,” Marco said, and we saw James’s head from around the corner.

“Well that’s the only one I got,” he said and thought for a second. “Shoot it and get ready for some action.”

Marco took out his handgun, Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan, and pointed at the lock.

“Now, I know why they gave me this. You could hunt a big game with it,” Marco said. “Just point and shoot.”

I turned away from the door, and he fired at the lock. The shot rang out across the whole floor. If it went unnoticed, then the security team consisted of seriously deaf people. Unfortunately, it wasn’t, and we heard the alarm right away. James’s walkie-talkie lit up.

“I heard that too,” James was yelling to his soon-to-be-ex colleagues. “I’m on it. Stay put and wait for my orders.”

The lock was shattered, but it took a bit of pushing to get in the lab. At last, I was in and saw the already familiar glass container, but…

“There are no vials!” I yelled.

“What do you mean?” Marco came from behind.

“I mean, there are no freaking vials!” I was getting nervous.

“Let’s check around,” Marco said and started to look for any other glass containers. I joined him.

The lab was quite small, about twenty square meters. There were two long tables with microscopes, flasks, test tube racks, beakers, and other stuff I did not know the names of. The glass container that was supposed to hold the vials was in the far-right corner next to two white storage units with transparent sliding glass doors. There was a fume hood in the left corner.

“Where could they hide…” As I was trying to think, my eyes were wandering around the lab, and I saw safety storage cabinets that usually are built to store hazardous materials. Viruses are very hazardous, right? “Marco, you’ll need to shoot again.”

Marco turned around and saw what I was pointing to. We heard some noises outside.

“Go to the other side. I’ll check here!” We heard James’s voice, and he appeared in the doorway. “What’s taking you so long?” he hissed through his teeth.

“Just another minute, James.” Marco said and pointed his gun at the cabinets.

James disappeared to deal with the situation in the corridor when Marco sent another bullet from his powerful gun into yet another lock. He didn’t get it at first and had to shoot two more times until the doors of the cabinet swung open, and we saw a neat row of full vials on the shelves.

“Let’s do it!” he yelled. “I’ll go and help James.”

I touched the vials with my hand and felt the glove doing its magic. There were more vials on the shelves than I expected, and I had to repeat the process two more times to make sure that I covered all the inventory. Meanwhile, I heard some yelling and shots outside. Marco ran in with some blood on his face.

“You got shot?!” I shrieked.

“Just a scratch. We gotta leave now!”

I couldn’t agree more. “I’m done. Let’s go.”

We left the lab. James was holding off the security on the left side of the corridor. There were some yelling and bullets flying from around the corner, but James made sure that his former comrades did not see who was shooting at them.

“Go to the other side. There’s another door up to the roof,” he said and shot blindly around the corner.

We took the right corridor, which was still empty and ran for the door. I punched the code on my phone to let the pilot know that we were on our way. According to the plan, the helicopter was going to land and pick us up from the roof. No more ropes.

We got to the door.

“James! Come on!” Marco yelled.

James appeared from around the corner and ran towards us. As he was approaching the door, one of the security men appeared from around the same corner and started to shoot. James tripped and fell.

Marco caught him, dragged him in and I sealed the door from inside. “He got me,” James said, out of breath.

“Can you walk?” Marco asked.

“I think I can,” he said and tried to stand up.