Chapter 20 · She Stole My Stream

The thing with my face stepped out of the tank.

She looked good. Better than me. Hair still wet but perfect, skin glowing like she'd just finished a spa day instead of crawling out of a Gray Protocol gene bath. She stretched. Rolled her neck. Smiled at the broken equipment around us.

"Chat, miss me?" she said again.

Cole had his gun up. Dennis was pulling me back. Leah stood between all of us and her, one hand behind her back. The silver blade. I could smell it from here.

"Step away from the door," Cole said.

My double laughed. My laugh. Exactly my laugh. "You're Cole Morgan. Retired. Trigger finger's slow now. I can hear your heartbeat from here, old man."

"Ivy," Dennis said quietly. "We need to move."

But I couldn't. Because she was looking at me now. And it was like staring into a mirror that hated you.

"So you're the original," she said. She tilted her head. "Huh. I thought I'd be prettier."

"What the hell are you?" I said.

She grinned. Walked closer. Cole's gun tracked her but he didn't fire. Leah's hand tightened on whatever she had behind her back.

"I'm you," she said.