The Gemini Effect, page 27
“All these years, you’ve been doing the same thing? Going around and killing twins?”
“Well, yes.” He said it like it was a normal thing to do, but then to him it probably was. “For a purpose. When this is all over, I’ll bring order to the world. Nobody will be able to stop me.”
“And we’ll all be your slaves? Serve you, just like those—” Deborah pointed to his chest, his face. “Like the people you murdered serve you now, whether they want to or not.”
“There will be peace. Isn’t it all that matters?”
“Peace always comes at a price,” she said.
“You don’t understand. Perhaps you will listen to my brother when he gets here.”
“Is he going to help me decide which of my kids to let you stab?”
The Gemini laughed. “Perhaps he will. I’m not sure what’s keeping him, though.” He cocked an ear. “Ah, talk of the devil. Here he comes now.”
Deborah looked over towards the door, could hear the footfalls. Then she saw him, the face she’d been expecting. Twin not to Luke Simpson as she’d thought, which totally explained why he hadn’t looked like him, but to this brute in front of her. Hands down like father like son. Glover.
Fucking Detective Inspector Mike Glover.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
She knew it!
Had known it from the start, never trusted this man standing in front of her. Even Jack had said it, “Glover is the key”. He was the key, all right. Had covered up The Gemini’s shit for… how long, more than eight years? Since before they’d killed his uncle.
“Deborah, I—”
She held up a hand. “Save it.”
Fucker. Absolute fucker! He was the reason she was here, her kids were here, on the pretence of saving lives when he was responsible for so many deaths! The reason Rosy was in hospital, Kiz – shit, how was Kiz? she hadn’t even asked – had needed surgery. She’d been right not to believe a word that came out of his mouth, the lying, conniving—
“You?” This was The Gemini talking, asking, sounding shocked, surprised even. “What are you doing here?”
“I found him outside, sniffing around.” Another figure joined them all, this one armed.
Deborah’s first thought was: We’re saved! But the more she did think about it, the more she couldn’t understand why the second man was talking to The Gemini as if he knew him. “Press almost spotted the twat.”
“That would have been… premature,” uttered The Gemini. “And disappointing. For them. Soon they’ll have something to report. Something to spread around the world. Something glorious.”
Deborah was barely listening, she was still fixated on the man behind Glover, now pushing him into the room. “Robbie?”
“Debs,” he answered. “How’re you doing?”
“I’m… What’s going on? Why’re you…” She looked from him over to the huge figure in black. Then at Glover. “But you’re…” The inspector shook his head.
“I’m sorry, Debs,” said Clark. “Truly I am.”
“You don’t understand. Perhaps you will listen to my brother when he gets here.”
“No… Robbie…” Deborah’s mouth fell open. It couldn’t be, it couldn’t have happened – not again. This man had made her care for him, when all along he was… “But you were there, with me, when… Peel, your friend Peel!”
Clark’s eyes glistened. “I tried to save him, Debs. You saw me! I loved that guy, and our uncle just…” He shook his head sadly.
“So your father was—”
“Regrettably, yes. The worthless turd.”
Her mind was flashing back now again, not just remembering the collection in those underground cells – the cells that were below them right now – but what had happened after those sparks of light, after those spirits escaped and attacked The Gemini. How she’d realised his face was the same as her superior’s; as, yes, Mason’s. How Clark had attacked the man, distracted him long enough for her to bring up that knife and—
The fury on his face, Clark’s face! Hadn’t just been because Peel was dead, he was taking something else out on that guy. Revenge for how he’d treated their mother, how he’d threatened her. For how she’d had to go through labour alone, then eventually died as a result of that.
“I thought maybe, when I joined the force, came to work here, that I might see something in him. Something our mother once loved. But all I saw was weakness, selfishness. Deceit. Look at the way he treated you, what he did to you.”
“What he did to me?”
Like father like—
“I’m glad you killed him. I just wish it had been me who’d got to do it.” Clark’s face was scrunching up like he had a sour taste in his mouth.
“You had such a huge impact on my life and my career. I don’t think you quite realise…”
Another thought occurred to her now. “Like you killed Luke Simpson, you mean?”
Clark shook his head more forcefully. “An accident. He slipped, that’s the truth.”
“But you would have killed him anyway, right?”
“What for? He didn’t know anything about all this. Just a druggie criminal, a distant echo of his brother. We wouldn’t even have been there if it wasn’t for you, for your friend Vinny.” And there was something in that statement, a jealousy that still betrayed his feelings. But how could he still care about her? After everything, after all this.
“I trusted you,” she said.
“I know. It wasn’t misplaced, though.”
“Not… Jesus Robbie, that guy’s a mass murderer!” Deborah swung an accusatory finger back at The Gemini.
“I haven’t killed anyone,” Clark stated.
“You helped him!”
“It was all necessary, for the cause.”
“I can keep a secret.”
“Your colleagues at Rosy’s place, that was necessary was it? Kiz? My kids? Robbie, he’s talking about killing Jack or James, about making me choose. How can you stand there and—”
“They won’t really be dead,” he cut in. “They’ll be part of something bigger than themselves, Debs – can’t you see? None of those people… Those twins,” he changed it to, “are really gone. They’re working towards the greater good. They—”
“They’re being used. They’re being held against their will, just like the first time! Christ, they shouldn’t even have been killed – they had no choice in that, either!”
“None of this will matter in the end,” he told her.
“All of it matters, Robbie! It has to!”
“Not if you know what we know, about what comes afterwards.”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ve seen the books, the prophecies. World peace, with him running everything – that sound about right? Thinks he’s fucking Zeus or something!”
“Enough!” bellowed The Gemini, causing them all to flinch. Then, more quietly, “Enough. This is pointless. It will happen, nothing can prevent my ascension now.”
“We’ll see,” whispered Deborah.
“You didn’t answer my question,” said the giant next. Deborah hadn’t realised he’d asked one, but she saw he was directing it at Glover. “What are you doing here?”
Glover didn’t reply.
“Probably following her. He’s done it before,” said Clark, and again there was a whiff of jealousy about his words.
“My, aren’t we popular,” said The Gemini. “I think even my brother’s taken a shine to you.”
Clark was going red in the cheeks.
“He can fuck right off,” spat Deborah.
“Not what you were saying, or doing in the car, Debs.” Now he seemed hurt more than anything. “If I remember rightly, I had to put a stop to that or—”
“That was just… I was confused. Upset. He’d just taken my kids!”
“Bullshit,” said Clark. “It had nothing to do with all that, and you know it. I’m the one who’s been trying to hold it back, trying not to make things worse. It’s why I made up Helen, so that things wouldn’t get more complicated than they needed to be.”
“Ha! Now we’re getting to it, an imaginary girlfriend! Bloody brilliant!”
“So things wouldn’t go too far. Because you—”
“Can you even hear yourself? Okay, yeah, I admit I was flattered. I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t considered it – back when I thought you were a good guy.”
“I am a good guy!” Clark argued.
“But I felt so bad about that,” she continued, ignoring him. “Taking advantage of your crush.”
“My—”
“Just like our father, he wanted you too – didn’t he?” The Gemini butted in.
“Don’t,” said Deborah.
“But in our case it would have been a little too… Do you want to tell her or shall I?” the man with two faces asked Clark.
“What?” Deborah’s shoulders slumped. “What now?”
“Another secret,” hissed The Gemini. “Another twist in the tale, writer lady.”
Clark rubbed his forehead furiously. “Our mother.”
“What about her?” asked Deborah. She’d already heard the full story, tragic as it was – hadn’t she?
“We only found out later, when she’d passed and we were going through her things. Found her birth certificate, found out about her real family, the one that hadn’t wanted her. That had shunned her, just like our dad did.”
Deborah was starting to get a really bad feeling about this.
“Get ready for that final shocking reveal!” shouted The Gemini, arms outstretched.
“You see,” said Clark, struggling to get the words out. “Our mother and Jack Foley’s mother were sisters.”
“Twin sisters,” The Gemini completed for him.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
No, it couldn’t be.
Yet it made perfect sense. Like everything else: orchestrated, arranged. Since those first rituals began, there was always going to be a backup plan – people who wait centuries were never going to leave things to chance. The Geminites, it was all down to them, pulling the strings. Deborah looked from Clark to his brother. They were the substitutes, always had been. But did they know that?
Were they aware that they were the ‘also rans’? It certainly didn’t seem like they knew. But before she could say anything, something else struck her. “That makes James and Jack…”
“Our cousins,” said Clark. “First cousins once removed actually.”
“And why things might be a bit… messy between you and my brother,” The Gemini said. He was talking like that was still an option; it made Deborah feel sick. But not as sick as the next thought made her.
“That’s why it has to be one of them, isn’t it? James or Jack. The final sacrifice.” Vinny had said it himself: Sometimes they even killed members of their own family, the ultimate offering.
“I’m afraid so,” Clark confirmed. “But like I said, they won’t really be—”
“Go fuck yourself, Robbie,” she snapped. It was the real reason why they were here, why she’d been coaxed back to Norchester. Why the twins were here.
“All one big happy fucking family!” The Gemini announced.
But why… why would Jack send her back here? Come to her with that message back in Armitage Bay? Had she misinterpreted it? Had it been a warning? No, it had been pretty clear… He wouldn’t have put them in harm’s way unless it was necessary, would have known their people were everywhere as the Geminite priest had said. Must have thought there was a way of stopping it, for Deborah to stop it.
There was a moaning from behind her, and Deborah turned to see her boys rousing. Waking up slowly, the drugs still in their system but the noise in here disturbing their slumber.
A way for her to stop it, for her boys to stop it.
And ‘Glover is the key’.
She looked over at the inspector, who’d been watching this whole thing play out with fascination. “Please tell me the cavalry is on its way, that you didn’t come here alone.”
He stared at her apologetically. “It’s as I feared, I’m off the case. It’s just me, Miss Harrison. I did come armed, but, well…” Glover gave a small laugh. “I’m not even a twin.”
“We can’t all be special,” said The Gemini.
“No,” Deborah replied. “Just you.” She turned to Clark. “Just him, right? He gets all the power, the glory? And what do you get out of all this, doing his dirty work for him? Doing what you’re told. Lying for him? What kind of life will you have… afterwards?”
Clark thought about this for a second or two. “There will be a place for me, he’s promised. For us all.”
“You never gave a shit about me, or my kids.”
“That’s not true, Debs.”
“Stop calling me that!” she shouted. It felt wrong now, felt like another life – which of course it had been. One built on falsehoods and deception. Just like— “Mason, your father. You are just like him.”
“Don’t say that,” Clark pleaded with her.
“Weak, spineless. He’s the dominant one, right? Always has been. It’s his plan, I’m guessing. All this was his idea? The Gemini? Do me a favour. A Gemini, maybe. A copy of the original. More like Twinkle, though, I reckon.”
“You dare!” rumbled The Gemini.
“Why, what are you going to do about it?”
Then she saw. The Gemini rose.
He is rising, has risen!
But it wasn’t just a drawing up of himself, standing tall. He was taller than ever now. And when Deborah looked down, she saw he was off the ground. Floating. Tiny sparks of electricity were visible, creating static. Deborah realised now where he’d been when she entered, why she hadn’t been able to see him. The fucker could fly! Or float, levitate, whatever you wanted to call it: was lifting himself higher and higher. Like directing those visions, this was another trick the first Gemini hadn’t mastered. Hadn’t even attempted. Perhaps he was superior after all.
But it was taking a hell of a lot of concentration, she could tell. A summoning of a lot of his power. She turned and bent towards the kids, leaning in to whisper to them. “James, Jack, can you hear me? Are you awake?”
They were mumbling something she couldn’t quite catch. Then James said: “N-Nightmare… about the Bad Man.”
“Yeah, that’s right. You were having a nightmare about him, but I want you to do something for me.
“W-What?” asked Jack, bleary-eyed.
“I want you to think about the Bad Man, the one with two faces. Concentrate on him.”
“It’s time to end this!” The Gemini’s voice boomed out. Clark was watching this spectacle, awestruck. It was obviously the first time he’d seen it. Glover, for his part, didn’t really seem surprised at all.
“Do it, do it now, boys. Please, for Mum.”
They both nodded in unison, scrunching up their eyes. The Gemini dropped. Just a little, but he dropped. “No, what is—” Then he fell some more, plunged to the ground again with a thud.
“That’s it, that’s it boys! You’re doing it, just think about the Bad Man.” It was working, just like Deborah had hoped it would. If the link was there, maybe it ran both ways. If The Gemini could open it up at his end, maybe her sons could do the same and pitch it back at him. Weaken him somehow, distract him long enough to—
The huge man in black fell to one knee, clearly in distress.
“No, Rich!” said Clark. Then to Deborah, “Stop it. Stop it, you’re hurting him!”
“Good!” she shouted back.
Clark shifted the gun, away from Glover, and pointed it at the trio towards the back of the room. “Stop! I-I’m warning you!” Whether he was going to fire or not wasn’t clear, and Deborah didn’t really want to test if he cared enough about them to find out; certainly not compared with his own flesh and blood, his twin as opposed to distant relatives. But in the end it didn’t come to that.
Glover grabbed his arm, shoved the gun upwards, which went off with a bang that they both reeled at, deafening them. Clark looked more shocked about this than seeing his only brother defying gravity, but snapped to and started wrestling Glover for possession of the firearm.
They spun around, Glover bringing the gun back down again – then Clark headbutted him and the inspector almost let go. Instead, he pressed himself up closer to Clark and the two men began their strange tango again. Which ended when the gun went off a second time.
Deborah’s hand went to her mouth.
Glover stepped away, revealing that Clark’s shirt was stained red. The inspector turned, smiled. Deborah smiled back. Then the man dropped over sideways, dead weight, and it was clear whose blood that was on Clark.
Hand shaking, Clark walked over to Deborah, who was now shielding the kids. “I said stop it. Whatever they’re doing, get them to stop, Debs. Deborah. I mean it.”
She didn’t know if she even could. But when he raised the gun at her head, it happened anyway – the boys more worried about their mum than the Bad Man.
The Gemini grunted. Got up off his knee. Used a desk nearby to help himself stand, then grabbed the underside of it and flung it against a wall. The cracked cup, Deborah’s old cup, fell to the floor and completely shattered. The Gemini trod on the remains and stalked towards them.
Clark smiled, then said to either her or the twins, “Thank you.”
A shadow fell over all of them, The Gemini only metres away – still on foot. He pulled out his twin-pronged fork – another copy, a replica, like Vinny’s but real; merely a tool fit for purpose – and held it aloft. “Time to finish this. Which one?” he asked again.
Deborah shook her head.
“Which one? Decide!”
How? How could she decide that? Which one of her sons was going to die, to have an eye plucked out of his head? No, she couldn’t do it.
“Which one, or I kill them both!”
Clark looked from his brother to Deborah and the twins. “No. They don’t both have to…” The Gemini shoved Clark aside, just the latest obstacle to getting his way. Then he reached down and grabbed Deborah, lifted her up off her own feet – a twisted parody of what he’d been doing himself not long ago.
