Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 60: Come Up With A Brilliant Idea - Or Else We're Not Done Here

Siegfried left me speechless.

Where was I during his op at the BioBank? In his mind, he said. Mine was running on adrenaline, giving raging power to my thoughts but with the stealth of an electric car.

"You had just fixed my motorbike," he started to explain as if he needed to tell his side of the story – or else, he'd burst. "You didn't even ask for anything in return – besides trusting you and your skills. You looked mesmerising in your comfort zone, that is, fixing the bike. I was thunderstruck at first because I thought you were bluffing. No girls or women have ever devoted themselves to such a job on account of clone laws. But you definitely knew what you were doing. I felt so lucky! Like I had found a needle in a haystack!"

He chuckled once, and proceeded with his tale:

"I knew I'd never be able to forget your face. At that moment, I knew that, without your help, I would've been doomed. I would've arrived late or not at all. Your help was providential!"

His tone of voice and body language danced together in perfect synchronicity, telling me he had felt like the luckiest guy in the world.

"After I left Dam Road, the only thing I could think of was you. How grateful I felt. How my faith in the divine had been restored on account of having met you. My life had become a sad tale, full of misery and suffering. I wanted my job as a rebel to mean something, to put an end to clone tyranny, to become a hero – or die trying. As I rode to Victoria Square, I thought about it all, feeling stronger and more determined than ever. All because of you."

"So, you were engrossed in a fantasy about feeling grateful for what I did to help you... and that's bad?"

"In a way." He sighed, closing his eyes as if he was hurting. "Agape was supervising the op from the control room in Amanita's basement with the rest of the group but for Gabi, who was in charge of blowing up the GSNS while my target was the BioBank. All of them but Gabi saw my thoughts, my emotions, my every move on Agape's screens. That's why they're mad at you."

"OK, fine. I distracted you for some minutes, I guess," I replied casually. "Guilty as charged. But why did you miss the shot? Really. 'Cos I don't get it."

"I failed because... I had never seen the fifteen-year-old kid I was meant to murder. Agape showed me no photo. She said it would be a piece of cake since he'd be easy to spot. The only donor that suited the President's needs would be a teenager surrounded by clone elite soldiers and doctors going out of the BioBank. There could only be one, and my aim is enviable. So, I could not fail."

He smiled briefly as if he was mocking himself for being stupid.

"I never thought, not even for a second, that I could actually fuck it all up. When the time had come, I saw all of them coming out of the BioBank, already broken and in flames, in a hurry to get onto the President's helicopter. That's when I saw him – Daniel."

He took a moment to breathe in and out. Reliving that afternoon was causing him great pain.

"I saw his face through the scope – and froze. His face turned into yours for a second. Why did you have to look so alike, your brother and you, Daphne?! I couldn't believe it!"

He was finding it hard to go on, but I didn't attempt to interrupt him. He was so close to telling me everything I needed to know.

"I froze for some precious seconds, staring at such a terror-stricken face that resembled yours to an unbelievable degree... that I let my target go. I couldn't find it in my heart to shoot. There was only one thought in my mind: the fact that you were related – closely related. It was the only explanation. I could only feel the pain that you would've felt in knowing that the teen had got murdered in cold blood by a sniper, me, only as a part of a large-scale plan to dethrone the clones and get rid of them all to save all traditional humans. He had to pay with his life, and so would've you with your suffering, Daphne. And you had helped me to get there in time to do it by fixing my bike. So, I froze... and I failed."