“I’ve always wanted to see the Grand Canyon,” he said to his son. “Maybe we should head west.”

“Sounds awesome,” Parker said, “and maybe rafting on the Colorado River.”

“Why not? This is going to be a good life. We’re going to do it right. I promise. But you do realize, I hope, that once we get settled somewhere, you’re going to have to go back to school, right? You’re going to have to graduate.”

Parker didn’t answer him. His head was turned toward the back seat of the car.

“What the hell is up with Louie?” he asked.

Jeremiah looked up in the rearview mirror. What he saw made his heart stop. The dog was baring his teeth, growling almost inaudibly, his ears pulled slightly back against his head.

The dog was looking directly at Parker.

Chapter 43

He’d told Parker they needed to stop at home to pick up Louie’s things. That the people from ViMed hadn’t known what to get.

“His bed, an extra leash. It’ll only take a few minutes,” he said, “and then we’ll hit the road.” He had to work to keep the tremor from his voice.

Why the hell had he let Parker go off alone with Scott for that cloning? What the hell had they done with his son?

His mind raced as he tried to get hold of the situation. They’d switched them and left him with Parker’s clone. And they’d used the Meld to pump every single memory—everything Jeremiah and Parker had been through over the last several hours, the cloning, the conversation about Diana, and all of it—into the mind of this thing.

“I thought we weren’t supposed to go back here. I mean, what if your clone is there? Or mine? That’ll be a bit awkward.”

“I think we’ll be okay,” Jeremiah said. “But just in case, I’ll park down the street a bit and you stay in the car. Head down.” He tried to smile. “Sort of like spy stuff.”

Parker’s clone shrugged.

Natalie should have been here by now, but he didn’t see her car anywhere. When he’d pulled off the road and thought for a few frantic minutes about who to call for help, he’d quickly realized that she was the only one he could trust now, the only one who could possibly put this right. And she owed him. He wasn’t leaving without his son.

“Meet me at my house in a half hour,” he’d told her. “Bring Meld and whatever else you need to put back all of those memories into my son. I want him back the way I left him. Intact.”

Jeremiah peered into the garage door window of the house. There was no car inside. He glanced at his watch. The clone would be at work for at least another hour. Parker, no doubt, was in his bedroom playing video games. He tried the kitchen door. It was locked. Looking around in as casual a manner as he could manage, he saw no neighbors on the street. There was no one to see what he was doing. He balled his good hand up inside the sleeve of his suit jacket and easily shattered the bottom pane of glass, knocking away the remaining shards so he could reach in and turn the doorknob. Once he was inside, he stood stone still, hardly daring to breathe, and listened for any sign that Parker had heard something. After a moment, he let out his breath and eased the door closed behind him as quietly as he could. Thank God for those expensive headphones, he thought.