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The Legacy

The Legacy

Titel: The Legacy
Autoren: Gemma Malley
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‘Jawlines, noses, chins, the shape of cheeks, but not eyes. Not really. Still, I rather like my eyes.’
    ‘No!’ Richard said, shaking violently. ‘No, it’s impossible. You’re dead.’ He looked at Derek. ‘He’s dead. You killed him.’
    ‘No.’ Derek shook his head. ‘No, Richard, I didn’t.’
    ‘Who’s dead?’ Hillary enquired anxiously. ‘Who are you talking about?’
    Richard opened his mouth then closed it again. He stared at Pip as though encountering a ghost. Then he started to shake.
    ‘Albert Fern,’ he whispered.
    ‘Hello again, Richard,’ Pip said, the smile leaving his face. ‘It’s been a long time, hasn’t it?’

.
    Chapter Twenty-four
     
    For a minute or so, it felt as if the world stood still. No one said anything, no one moved. Then suddenly Richard ran at Peter, wrenching Molly from his grasp and holding her up in the air. ‘Give me the formula, you bastard!’ he shouted at Pip. ‘Give it to me now or she dies! They all die!’
    Molly’s screams filled the room as Richard shook her. Anna stared wide-eyed, then leapt at him, kicking and biting him like a wild animal. ‘Give me my child!’ she screamed. ‘Give her to me!’
    Peter snatched Molly from his arms as Richard fell to the ground, and Anna continued her frenzied attack until Peter gently pulled her away.
    ‘Derek,’ Richard gasped. ‘Derek, kill them! Kill them all!’
    Derek turned slowly to look at him, then shook his head.
    ‘Derek,’ Richard said, his voice strangled, staring at his head of security uncertainly. ‘Derek, don’t do this. Not now. We’ve got Albert. He’ll give us the formula. We can rule the world again, Derek. You and me. We can do it – you know we can.’
    ‘No, Richard,’ Derek said. He walked over to the desk and leant against it. He took a deep breath and let it out, then held his head in his hands.
    ‘He’s ill,’ Hillary said cautiously. ‘Guard’s, he’s –’
    But before she could finish her command, Derek straightened up. ‘So long,’ he breathed. ‘Too long. It’s been too long.’
    ‘What’s been too long?’ Richard seethed. ‘What are you talking about?’
    ‘I’ve been doing this so long I hardly know who I am,’ Derek said. He looked around the room wildly. ‘Who am I? What am I?’
    ‘You know who you are,’ Pip said gently. ‘You know, Derek.’
    ‘I don’t know,’ Jude said, his voice level, ‘but I want to know. I want to know everything. You . . . You’re Albert Fern?’ he asked Pip incredulously.
    Pip nodded.
    ‘You invented Longevity?’
    ‘No!’ Richard yelped. ‘No, Derek killed him. Albert Fern is dead.’
    ‘Not dead,’ Derek said. ‘He’s not dead, Richard. I didn’t do it.’
    There was a shocked silence. ‘You couldn’t do it,’ Pip said gently. Then he took a deep breath and walked over to the window, before turning back to Jude. ‘Derek understood,’ he said simply. ‘Richard paid him to kill me, but he wasn’t a killer. He was a security guard. He was a man. A man with insight, with intelligence. A brave man. A man who could see, like me, that it was already too late to stop Richard, that the wheels were already in motion, but that whatever happened, the circle of life had to be protected. That however Richard’s new world played out, new life must be created, so that when this day came, all would not be lost. Humans are destructive animals, Jude, but they are also wise ones. They couldn’t be allowed to die out simply because of the aspirations of one man.’
    Jude was trembling and tears filled his eyes. ‘I knew you were messaging Richard,’ he said, his voice catching. ‘I thought at first it was Sheila. But then she ran away to find her parents. She’d thought it was me. I realised . . .’ He looked over at her beseechingly. Slowly, she uncurled herself and stood up, then reached over and took his hand.
    ‘You realised that you’d thought what I’d encouraged you to think,’ Pip said gently. ‘I’m sorry, Jude. I couldn’t tell you what was happening. It was a long game. A very long game. And the end was in sight. I had to keep Richard preoccupied while Derek and I implemented our endgame.’
    ‘You sent me that message?’ Peter looked at Pip uncertainly. ‘You let them take Anna?’
    Pip nodded. ‘I didn’t expect you to come to London. When we discovered . . . We knew Anna wouldn’t be safe. Knew we had to get there before anyone else did. Richard was closing in. We
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