Axiom Theory: Book Four of the Shadow Series (5 page)

Dawson’s next opportunity wouldn’t come until a year later. After losing him in Lincoln, he scoured the country and kept an eye on the world, waiting for the boy (or whatever he was) to resurface. Finally, the day came when his attention was drawn to Wisconsin. It was there that he’d achieved his greatest feat in capturing Test. Not only was he able to capture him alive, but he was able to restrain him so that tests could be run. He was finally going to know what this boy was.

Though nothing of what had become truth seemed logical, his first theory was that Test was an alien. He found it hard for himself to even speak of his theory, but what else could it be?

He waited and watched as the old Russian scientist
, Professor Gusyeva, studied and watched the results of countless tests performed on their subject’s body. When the DNA results came back as human, Dawson became enraged. It just wasn’t possible and he couldn’t force his mind to accept anything otherwise. It wasn’t until the scientist’s explanation of how Davis’s genetic code being in error caused his powers that he suddenly felt differently.

Learning that Test Davis was human created what Dawson saw as the most unique and powerful
situation ever imagined. He saw Davis as an opportunity—an opportunity to spearhead the creation of the most dangerous weapon the world could possibly imagine. Things were not to go completely as planned, however, as Test revealed a previously unknown power.

The security footage
from the day Davis escaped showed the subject releasing a massive amount of energy from his core. Moments later, with a blinding flash of light, the screen went blank. When the picture returned, Davis was gone. No doors were opened, no wall destroyed; it was as though he had just walked through them. It was due to this power that the project had become known as “Project Ghost”.

While the escape was a black eye
on Dawson’s record, his scientist had enough genetic material to proceed with attempting to clone a “ghost”. The science had been around for decades, and though the world didn’t know it, human clones had been made dozens of times within the last five years by the United States alone. It was a fact that the global community could never know. It was also a fact that, once Dawson’s superiors learned of the potential of Project Ghost, they had handed control over eagerly. Dawson and his team were given everything that they requested. Every resource was at their disposal.

His soldiers had been reassigned along with him
, each of them granted position in the most secretive and covert unit the military had ever known. Their mission was solitary and defined: locate Test Davis and capture him dead or alive. With Dawson being promoted to the head of Project Ghost, a new field commander was chosen from the ranks and everything was put in place. The unit then began scouring the globe for signs of Test, but months went by with no sign of him. Finally, one evening the news was awash with scenes of a bright meteor streaking through the skies of New Mexico. Every bit of intelligence that they could collect, every expert in the field of meteorology and astronomy, told them that this was no meteor. Within hours they were mobilized and on their way to New Mexico.

It wasn’t until days later that the incident in Kansas City revealed
to him that Test Davis was not the only “ghost” in existence. Unfortunately, though the Union Station building was littered with security cameras, the release of energy by the numerous “ghosts” within the building interfered with their operation. As the events inside unfolded, Dawson was able to screen the recorded footage from the hour prior to the picture going completely blank. He was able to count up to five beings. His heart sank.

Looking back, he knew that if he could
n’t contain one of them, he was foolish to think that he had a chance in hell of containing five or more.

Walking away from Kansas City empty handed was yet another black eye. It wasn’t, however, the last straw. That was to come months later.

His good standing with his superiors shaken, he relied on the hope that the cloning would be successful. Over the next two months, several fetuses had been successfully generated only to fail to make it past two weeks of age.

Dawson refused to give up.
Everything had become experimental. His team of scientists broke new ground every day. With the initial plan to implant the fetuses into surrogate mothers shot down, they quickly developed methods to grow a fetus from first stage cell division to a full term baby. Feeling encouraged, the most ground breaking move was to experiment with altering strands of DNA to expedite the fetus’ growth rates.

Eventual success led to accolades. Four fetuses were successfully cultivated. The feeling was short lived as one by one, the
y perished. The cause was different for each. Final hope rested on the fetus the scientists referred to as PG15. He was the fifteenth fetus created since the project’s beginnings and seemed to be as robust and healthy as any human child could be expected to be. Within a matter of weeks, his growth had exceeded expectations and, when at only eighteen weeks of age, he was the equivalent of a new born child.

He had done it. Time would tell if the child would have the abilities of Test Davis, but
Dawson was certain as if it were an absolute fact that he would. He watched the child daily as it fed on formula, defecated, and cried like any other normal human baby would.

Five days later, his glory would fade. He was awakened by the sound of his telephone ringing. The voice on the other end shook frantically as they tried to mutter the words they were so obviously afraid to say.

“He’s gone. PG15 is gone.”

Review of the security tape of the nursery revealed nothing but a hand covering the lens, followed by a fierce red light. From that point the screen went blank.

Shortly after this final incident, Dawson was relieved of his post and forced into retirement.

****

This was Dawson’s routine. Every night, he started at the beginning and walked it through in his mind to the end. The only three things he had left were the bottle of whiskey, a pack of cigarettes, and a lifetime of torturous memories. His days had become filled with an overwhelming emptiness and his nights filled with loneliness and a growing hatred of the beings that had ruined his life.

He yearned for revenge and vindication.

After months of constant moving from town to town, the twins had decided to settle in Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey. Casper had scouted the area for a few weeks or so, looking for just the right home. The size and price of the home didn’t matter; he wasn’t looking to buy. Instead, he searched for someone that was isolated, rarely left the house, and most importantly, someone that never received any visitors. When the pool of prospects was narrowed to two, he even went so far as to sit in the room with them from time to time, hiding out in the realm of the dead while the person stared blankly at the television. The unlucky winner would be the one that received the least phone calls. To his great pleasure, candidate number two (a small elderly man in his late seventies) didn’t receive a single call or visitor in the final week that he was watched.

****

Casper entered their somewhat modest home with a smug grin and an arm full of groceries. Stealing was easy and fun for him. He’d simply phase into the spirit world, walk into a particular house when no one was home, search the home for cash, take it, walk out into the back yard, and burst into the sky with his plunder. He saw himself as a new age pirate and certainly thought highly of his talents. He was smart about it; never hitting the same area (or even town for that matter) within the same month. The thefts were unable to be linked so it gave him more of a security free environment in which to do his thing. Today, however, he’d been relegated to grocery shopping and that was something that he felt was beneath him.

“Here’s your stuff,” he huffed as he dropped the groceries on the floor and plopped into the recliner.

Ashley sat on the floor, trying to occupy the child in front of her. “Aren’t you going to put those away?” she asked.

Without response, Casper picked up the remote control and turned the TV channel.

“Fine,” Ashley replied bitterly as she got up on her knees. “
You
occupy Destin then!”

Before Casper could reply, the young boy spoke up. “I don’t want to play with Casper. He cheats.”

Casper grinned widely and winked at the boy. “Just trying to teach you while you’re young!” he quipped.

Destin
stood and stretched, his arms reaching as high into the air as they could go.

“Look at this,” she said, tugging at the cuffs on the boy’s pants that were three inches above his ankles. “We’re going to have to get new clothes again.”

“Jesus,” exclaimed Casper. “I just got him some last week!”

“Well look,” replied Ashley, tugging at little
Destin’s waistline. “The button’s about ready to pop!”

“It hurts, too,” said
Destin in a matter-of-fact and timid voice.

Casper lowered the footrest on the recliner and leaned forward. “Did those scientists mix fertilizer in with his DNA or something?” he quipped again.

Ashley rolled her eyes. “That comment got old about six months ago.”

Ashley looked at the boy and tried to fend off the
urge to dispose of him right then and there. She thought that perhaps as he got older, he would be able to occupy himself more, but she’d discovered the opposite was true; the kid wanted attention all the time. The fact that he looked more and more like Test with each passing day didn’t help suppress the urge either. The only thing that prevented her from getting rid of him (this time and many before) was her desire for revenge.

Destin
let down his arms and walked to the side of the recliner where Casper sat. “Do you wanna play a game?” he asked.

“Nah, kid; I’m tired,” Casper replied as he leaned back and lifted the footrest again. “Why don’t you go and take a nap or something?”

Destin’s head dropped in disappointment as he turned and walked away. He walked past Ashley and towards the narrow hallway that led to his room.

Ashley watched him pass and as her eyes surveyed him, she saw a small blush of
red light on his forearms. Quickly turning to Casper, she glanced over her shoulder and waited until Destin had left the room.

“Did you see that?” she asked in a hushed
, but excited voice.

With his arms behind his head and eyes closed, Casper replied
lazily. “Nope.”

Ashley reached out with her left hand and gripped the front of the foot rest with her energy
, tilting it forward until it touched the floor. Casper jumped up from the chair.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?” he
shouted.

Ashley stood and grabbed his arm, pulling him close to her.

“He’s getting his powers,” she said with gritted teeth while staring him straight in the eye. “I saw his energy.”

Casper looked at her with a blank expression. “So? It’s about time, right?”

The two of them had expected Destin’s powers to come in much sooner. The reason that their fallen leader had wanted Test so badly was because his powers had come to him while he was still in the crib. With little Destin being a clone, they’d assumed that everything would play out in his life as it had in Test’s.

Ashley pushed Casper back and into the recliner. “You’re worthless. You know that?”

Ignoring his sister, Casper simply leaned back in the chair and resumed the position he was in before he was so rudely interrupted.

Tired of her brother’s lackadaisical attitude, she picked up the groceries from the floor and went to the kitchen to put them away.

As she emptied the bags, she couldn’t help but think of how agonizing their lives had become since Destin had arrived. More importantly, she fantasized about what he’d become.

****

After learning about the government’s capture of Test, both Ashley and Casper had become fearful about what the humans had possibly learned from him. The Reaper’s numbers had once made it so that they had no fears—no worries. Now that it was just the two of them, it was fear that sent them to the government facility.

Locating the
facilities whereabouts wasn’t as difficult as they’d originally thought it would be. They were aware of the agent that had been tracking Test, Agent Dawson, and under the stealth of walking in the spirit realm, entered his home and found documents that gave clues to its location.

Their ent
ry into the compound was simple, however, finding the right section of the building proved to be difficult. The energy required to spend long periods of time on the other side was exhaustive, and they had to abandon the fact finding adventure on the first trip. Having eliminated a good portion of the building on the first, the second visit proved to be monumental.

The original plan had been to sneak in, collect what information the government had accumulated, and then destroy it.
Ashley was shocked to find, within the cordoned off section in the lower levels of the building, an infant. This infant had a wrist band that read “Ghost: PG15”. The infant rested inside of what looked like a large incubator. Hanging on the side of the apparatus was a clipboard. She glanced at the top and read: