Identity - Prologue. Prologue

A jet black mercedes sped down a deserted road in the small town of Troy in New York State. As the car picked up speed, the driver stared out the window and noticed the leaves had begun to transform from green to a vibrant mix of orange, purple and red, a sure sign that fall had just begun in this city outside of Albany, the state capital.

The man, who had gotten up earlier than usual, grabbed the steering wheel tightly as he pushed his car closer and closer to 100 miles per hour with little fear the cops would pull him over. He wanted to get to his destination and fast. Suddenly, without so much as blinking, the man swerved the car to the right and onto a narrow dirt road as a cloud of dust exploded behind him.

Ten minutes later, he slammed the brakes as he pulled into the parking lot of a small windowless two story complex. He parked in his reserved spot right next to the front door and quickly ran into the building. Once inside, he walked to yet another door with the name ‘H and Associate’ written on front. He slid his magnetic card in the lock and entered the five digit numerical code before finally entering the building.

Every employee knew H and Associate’s work was strictly confidential since all workers had to sign a non-disclosure agreement before starting their jobs. But few knew that ‘associate’ referred to the government and not anyone else. The raison d’être of ‘H and Associate’ was fairly simple. A few years ago, the government had given H a direct order to assemble a team of highly qualified scientists with the straightforward yet highly difficult task of developing the perfect human. For years, they had worked to achieve their objective and today was when their hard work was finally going to show some results.

The man, who was in his early 40s, was walking down the main hallway when two of his assistants dressed in their blue medical scrubs uniforms walked up to him.

“Is everything ready to hand over the infant?” Mr. H asked as they approached.

The taller of the two assistants, Lee Mitchell, answered him back. “Yes, everything. We were waiting for you.”

“Perfect, perfect. Start the final tests then. I want everyone ready in five minutes,” Mr. H replied as he walked away.

He arrived in his office and dropped his bag on his chair before taking his coat off and hanging it behind the door. He then proceeded to put on his white lab coat and hurried out of his office.

Entering the nursery, he was happy to find out that his team had already started the tests on the 12 month old boy. Mark Housego, or Mr. H as his staff knew him as, supervised the first tests for about two hours. After the most important tests were completed, he had his assistant Mitchell finish.

After observing the tests, the boss walked back to his office, closing the air tight pressure door behind him. Satisfied that he could now have a conversation without being overheard, he started the video conference from the comfort of his desk.

On the other end was his associate. Generally the associate didn’t keep Mark on a tight leash, only occasionally asking him to give progress reports. But today was special, Mark Housego would finally be able to confirm that all the money they had invested in the project had achieved some tangible results.

“Good morning gentlemen,” Mr. Housego started, “as you can guess, I haven’t called you this early to just give you a simple update. As you already know, we successfully completed the required genetic modification. In the past few months, our team has monitored every aspect of the child. I can now confirm that this project is a success. We will entrust the kid to the mother later today.”

“What can you tell us about the adoptive parent?” Mr. Travis asked him.

Mark opened his folder and took a look at his paper and recited the fact about the woman. “She is Julianne Johnson, a single woman, twenty seven years old. She moved from LA and now resides in Denver, Colorado where she works as local marketing director, making an income of $70,000 per year. Both of her parents died in a car crash just outside Naples, Florida two years ago.”

“Any siblings? Close friends?”

“One estranged brother still living in the suburbs of LA. They call each other once a year on Christmas’ eve. Her childhood friend, and what seems like her only real friend, is a journalist currently stationed in Berlin. There’s nothing to worry about, really, everything is safe,” Mark finished.

“She must never suspect anything, she can’t know that her kid is not like any other,” Travis insisted.

Mark was almost insulted that they even had to mention that to him but couldn’t really respond the way he wanted since they were technically his bosses. “But of course, everything has been prepared. She will believe that she adopted her kid just the same way as any other parent. She won’t know that we can tell with precision how he’ll develop physically all the way down to his shoe size.”

“Perfect, lets keep it that way,” Travis said.

“Are we sure that there won’t be any health complication?” the second associate ,who had kept quiet up to that moment, asked.

“Yes, completely, we corrected any fault in the genetic line of the original embryo and made all the adjustment that was required so that the grown up result could acheive what we expect. The bottom line is that he will be disease free.”

“When will you turn the child over to Ms. Johnson? And where have you set up the appointment with her?” asked again the second associate.

Already expecting the question, Mark answered quickly. “I’ll leave right after this conference and the kid should be in her hands by this afternoon. I’m meeting her in a cafe right in front of her hotel right in town.”

“Good, we’ll get in touch with you to give you further instructions after you given her the baby,” Travis said before ending the video conference.

Mark looked at his watch and decided that it was time for him to leave if he didn’t want to be late. He reached for the phone and dialed the proper extension.

“It’s me, will you please prepare my car and place the boy in my car? We’ll be heading out in not too long. My keys are at the front desk,” Mark said to his assistant.

“Sure thing Mr. Housego, it’s time to go,” Mitchell answered. He was the only one in the whole complex who had the security clearance to know what the ‘H’ stood for in ‘H and Associate.’ But even he didn’t know who the associate was.

Mark hung up the phone and gathered his briefcase from his office and left. When he arrived outside, the baby was already installed comfortably in a newly purchased car seat in his Mercedes.

The drive to New York City was uneventful as he didn’t encounter much traffic. Luckily for Mark, little Kai felt asleep less than twenty minutes after their departure and woke up just as he was pulling into his destination.

Julianne arrived shortly after Mark. Wearing a grey skirt and white blouse, she looked as if she had just got out of a business meeting. For a while, Mark and his team wondered if she was the right one, but Mark’s gut told him that he hadn’t made a mistake by choosing Julianne.

Mark started to get up when Julianne noticed him and walked toward him. They had met once before and the two had no problem recognizing each other. But even if Julianne had forgotten what Mark looked like, the baby seat lying next to him would have given him away.

“Good morning Ms. Johnson,” Mark said as they shook hands.

“Good morning! How are you today? Did I make you wait too long?” Julianne said as she took a seat at the table.

“Absolutely not, I only arrived a few minutes ago and I just ordered coffee,” Mark asked.

“Can I?” she asked pointing to the little baby boy.

“But of course, after all you’ll officially be his mother in a few minutes,” Mark responded.

She didn’t need to be told twice that the baby was about to become hers as she quickly reached out and took Kai out of his car seat and held her in arms. As if on cue, the boy opened his eyes and looked right into his new mother’s face.

“He’s even cuter than in pictures,” Julianne said with a grin as she stroked her baby’s face gently.

“Yes, he is. And he’s very calm too,” Mark added.

Julianne could have stayed there with Kai in her arms forever. No words could describe the joy she felt right know as she caressed her baby son.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Mark that both mother and child seemed to be a perfect match for each other. Kai already seemed very at ease in Julianne’s grasp.

“Well, lets get down to business, shall we?” Mark announced after Julianne had held Kai for a few minutes.

Julianne carefully placed Kai back comfortably in his car seat. Julianne nodded and Mark took out a folder and a pen out of his bag. He went through the folder and took out some documents.

“I need a signature here and here and here to confirm the adoption,” Mark said as he handed her the paperwork. He had highlighted the parts she needed to sign.

After reading the contract, Julianne gladly signed it and handed it back to Mark. He had took out some more papers that needed her signature for her to sign which she did one after the other as her arm started to get sore.

The meeting was a short one as Mark didn’t want to linger for too long in town. In fact, he was quite anxious to get back to his office and wait for his next assignment. After Julianne scooped up her new baby son and left the restaurant, Mark went back to his car and drove back to Troy.

The next morning, Mark took it upon himself to arrive at work at a more reasonable hour. Instead of 7 a.m., it was past nine when he pulled into his reserved spot.

But something was different, the parking lot was deserted. After entering the first door of the complex, he noticed a brown envelope taped to the security door. He grabbed the envelope, then he slid his magnetic card into the lock and typed in his code as usual, but this time, the door didn’t open.

After trying the sequence a few times to make sure he hadn’t entered his code wrong, he gave up and opened the letter. At the exact same moment, his cell rang. Mark dug it out of his pocket, looked at the caller ID, but the number was blocked.

“Hello?” Mark answered.

“Mark, your services at the Troy complex won’t be needed anymore. Your job is done there,” the voice said, which Mark recognized as Travis’.

“What will happen with the complex then?” Mr. Housego asked.

“It’s on a need to know basis and you don’t need to know. We’re taking over,” Travis answered.

Mark knew enough about his employer that it wouldn’t be wise for him to press that matter any further, even if he didn’t appreciate being pushed out of his project right after it had succeeded beyond his wildest dreams.

“Alright! What’s next?” Mark wondered out loud.

“You’ve been doing some great work over there, if you’re interested we have a position for you with us,” Travis said.

“And if I were to refuse?” Mark inquired.

“It’s your prerogative, but I’ll remind you that that you signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding all the work you’ve done at the complex,” Travis said with a hint of disappointment over the tone of the conversation.

Mark took less than a minute to agree. “Alright, what’s the position?”

“All the information is in the letter,” Travis said

Mark opened the envelope as asked and briefly read the confidential document.

“Your plane leaves tonight, the flight details are in the envelope too. We’ll take care of shipping your stuff,” Travis explained.

“Okay, understood,” Mark replied.

“I’ll see you when you arrive,” Travis said before hanging up.