The Samsara Project, David Burgess [most popular ebook readers txt] 📗

mentally and physically the decision was made to complete our experiments and work began on the remaining eleven samples. We had learned a lot from Rachael and with each patient who followed our techniques improved. By the time patient number eight was re-born we were happy with our recovery programme and six months after the last re-birth the whole group, including all their support staff, were relocated to an island facility off the coast of Scotland. For the next twelve months all the patients went back to school. They learned to read and write modern English, they were taught maths, history, cookery and IT. They even learned to drive. The course was intense but we had to give each one the best chance of surviving in the modern world that we could. Finally everyone was given the opportunity to choose a new identity complete with a new past.”
“What about Jacqueline Dupree? When was it that the alarm bells started to ring?”
Peter sighed, “I’m not side stepping the question but you’ve had to take in a lot of unbelievable information so far. I’m happy to carry on if you want but we can also leave it until tomorrow if you’d prefer.”
“If you’re OK,” said John, “I’m happy to carry on. I’ve learnt you can never rely on tomorrow. Some food would be nice though.”
DCS Hughes agreed. John phoned an order for food and drinks then carried on. “Jacqueline Dupree was one of the most intelligent women I have ever come across; she was also the only member of the group who wanted to keep her own name. She devoured history, maths and English did not faze her at all and she took to IT like a duck to water. She was also one of the quieter members of the group, kept herself to herself for most of the time. Then, for no apparent reason she’d have massive fall outs with people, the other women, staff it didn’t seem to matter. We gave her intensive medical checks just in case there were side effects we were not aware of. All results showed her to be a normal healthy woman. In fact she was a very healthy woman. Jacqueline only had a couple of major fallouts after that; maybe she thought it best to keep a low profile.”
”Do you remember who she had these major fall outs with?” asked DCS Hughes.
Peter thought for a moment, “Suzie Reeves and Gillian Burns.”
“They were the two victims,” said DCS Hughes. Then the murders could have just been about revenge, payback for an argument that happened years ago. That doesn’t make any sense, there has to be more to it than that”
“Any chance her past could have caught up with her?” asked John.
“Possible,” replied DCS Hughes, “but how?”
John thought for a moment, “Jacqueline was the only member of the group who kept her original name that means she had a traceable history. You say that every one of the women learnt IT. Did that include Internet and e-Mail?”
“Of course, it’s essential these days.”
“Andrew used the Internet to track her down in the first place, he only found her by chance, and these women had a name to help them. Supposing she let something slip maybe talked in her sleep or said something after a couple of drinks that led one or both of the victims to unearth her true identity.”
“It’s possible,” replied DCS Hughes, “but who’d believe them. I didn’t believe you to start with. I suppose only one person had to believe them, Jacqueline Dupree. Suzie Reeves has proven to be a strong, greedy and manipulative person. I’ll bet it was Gillian who traced her past; she told her friend Suzie who then blackmailed Jacqueline. That’s a very powerful motive for murder.”
“That all makes sense,” said John, “Suzie’s Russian Mafia connections, her money laundering had no bearing on the case at all. Gillian must have gone along with it.”
DCS Hughes continued with the theory, “On the morning of the funeral Gillian Burns invited Jacqueline Dupree to her house, it was the one place Gillian probably felt safe. My guess is she was expecting some kind of financial payoff from Ms Dupree, firstly to keep quiet about who she really was and secondly to buy her silence over Suzie’s death. It wouldn’t have taken much for Gillian to put link Jacqueline and Suzie’s murder.”
“She did get a payoff,” said John.
“Just not the kind she was expecting,” said DCS Hughes.
Throughout their conversation Peter had remained silent; he was as impressed with their logic and thinking as they were with what he had told them. All three were experts in their own fields and all three respected each other for that.
“There’s still something I don’t understand,” said John, “how did Tracy and myself fit in to all of this?”
“I think I can answer that,” said Peter. “Suzie Reeves murder opened up Pandora’s Box and set off a chain of events that has brought us all together today. High ranking Pentagon officials learnt of the work that we were doing here, and as the US was providing most of the funding they thought that gave them the right to dictate to me what direction the project should take. My guidelines were very clear and very specific and it did not involve the US military. What they wanted was to effectively hijack the project for their own ends. Their plan was to set up a core special forces unit that they would be able to send anywhere in the world to do whatever they wanted. The soldiers would be trained to fight to the death; the mission must succeed at all costs. Each soldier would have known death was a viable and acceptable option, after all if they died they would be reborn. For the first time in history there would be a highly trained elite fighting force that had no fear of death, it would mean nothing to them as they would survive every mission and be around to fight another day.
Imagine though if they got greedy? They would be protected by an indestructible force, they would have more power than the PM and the US president combined. How much do you think someone such as Bin Laden would pay to have this technology, and not just him, there are all his sidekicks and hangers on as well. I am sorry to say but we knew very little about this group until you asked for the blood test. Without our knowledge they had a database of all the original DNA profiles we had used. When your results were inputted into the DNA database it flagged a warning to group that someone was taking an interest in one of the Samsāra Project women, in this instance Jacqueline Dupree. In order to protect themselves they had no choice other than to follow it through. That, as it turned out, was good news for us and bad news for them. We had heard rumours for a long time that a deep covert group had infiltrated the HSS but we were never able to identify exactly who they were.”
“I’m sorry Peter but who are ‘we’?” asked John.
“MI5, they had tried to infiltrate the HSS but without any success. I admit it took a while for us to realise that this underground group were watching you.”
“How did you know they were?” asked DCS Hughes.
“From the bug that was recovered from your office, that was an elementary mistake to make on their part but fortunately for us it was the only piece of evidence we needed. As soon as we realised that it John had an appointment to see you it did not take too long to piece everything else together. I admit, and apologise for our initial slow response but you have to agree we did make up for it.”
“It would have been nice to have known sooner though.”
There was a knock at the door and a smartly dressed waiter entered the room followed by two assistants. They each carried an individual tray, one for each of them. No one asked, but John and DCS Hughes were intrigued to know just how each managed to be served with their favourite cut of aged Angus steak cooked to their personal preference. Each plate also had a selection of three of their favourite vegetables, again each prepared to perfection. A third waiter then arrived with three bottles of wine, this time neither was surprised at the choices they received.
John sensed their surprise; he turned to DCS Hughes, “The secret of a good dinner Chief Superintendent is to ensure you know exactly what your guests’ food preferences are isn’t that right John?”
“Defiantly Peter, every time.”
Peter looked over towards John and winked. Both now relieved that the tension between them from earlier had evaporated. John was enjoying his first decent meal for what seemed an eternity. HMP Outcross was not known for the quality of its food or its generous portions. John couldn’t help thinking about Rigger and the meal that he would be eating that night. John wondered if he had ordered two, just in case he had gone back. “Peter,” said John, “I have to ask. What happened to Tracy?”
Peter placed his knife and fork at the side of his plate. “I don’t know what to say John, when the ambulance arrived and picked up Tracy the crew could not find a pulse. They made out there was a faint one to the officers at the scene but that was so they could put Tracy in the ambulance and bring her back here. I’m sorry John, the crew tried everything they could on the way to our hospital but it was hopeless. Her wounds were too severe. I am so sorry John.”
“I understand Peter,” replied John, “I know you would have done everything possible.”
John turned to DCS Hughes, “I know you have also lost someone who was more than a secretary and colleague. I know that she loved her job and she spoke very highly of you.”
DCS Hughes wiped a tear from his eye. “The office will never be quite the same again; she brought a little ray of sunshine in to what was normally a very tense and distasteful job. You’re quite right, I will miss her. We all will.”
John filled his wine glass and proposed a toast, “To absent friends,” All raised their glasses, “Absent friends,” they said in unison.
“To absent friends,” said a voice from the door. The hairs on the back of John’s neck stood on end. He momentarily froze, and then slowly he turned around. He was looking straight into her eyes, still not believing his own eyes. He stood up, “Tracy, he said, is that you, I don’t understand.” He looked over towards Peter, “What’s the point of having all this technology if I can’t get to use it from time to time.”
Tracy ran over to John and flung her arms around him, he held her tightly, probably a little too tightly, but neither of them cared. “I hope that meal isn’t going to fill you up.” She said.
John looked slightly puzzled.
“We still have a dinner date, remember.”
Peter called over to John, “Catch,” he said as he threw a set of keys to John who instinctively caught them. He looked at the keys, they were his. “I had your car shipped up from London. It’s in the car park. The Chief Superintendent and I still have a few loose ends to tie up, boring paperwork. I’m sure you two have a lot to catch up on; it’s been quite a week for both of you. Go, have a great night and we’ll meet back here in the morning. Say ten thirty.”
“We’ll be here,” replied Tracy, “come