The Face Transplant by R Arundel

Author:R Arundel [Arundel, R]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: R Arundel
Published: 2014-04-05T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Four

Kevin puts the face on the table. Matthew notes the faint smell of alcohol on Kevin. It is early morning. The smell triggers Matthew’s memory. Kevin was a promising young surgeon. Energetic. Gregarious. He liked the bottle a little too much unfortunately. He had an addictive personality that allowed him to study frenetically. He became addicted to vodka and lime. Then just vodka.

Both Kevin and Matthew are transfixed by the face they see. They turn to each other. They both look again to see if the face will change. If their eyes will work properly and show something else. Nothing changes.

Sitting before them on a clean white towel is the face of the Secretary of Defense. George H. Brown. Correction, the former Secretary of Defense, Quentin’s predecessor. The Secretary of Defense died in a hiking accident on Karakatura a few months ago. His body was not found. The climbing season had ended, and it was too dangerous to go up on Karakatura now. They were planning to go back and search next year. It was a tragic loss for the White House. Quentin Taylor had been sworn in to take his place.

Together, like a ritual burial ceremony, they rewrap the head. They gently put it in the canister and shut the titanium cylinder. It makes a reassuring thud as it closes. They leave the room and go back to the office. Both men sit, their minds twirling with the possibilities.

Kevin asks, “Drink?”

“Sure.”

Kevin pours two.

Both men drain the glasses immediately. Jason pours two more. Kevin and Matthew each down those more quickly than the first set. Kevin makes a third set. They each take a sip.

“That’s the face of the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America,” says Matthew.

“Someone murdered him, then harvested his face. They disposed of the body,” says Kevin.

“They came to my lab the night they killed Tom. The plan was for me to transplant the face of the Secretary of Defense onto the body. The person who I was operating on had the same body type as the Secretary of Defense. I thought we were changing someone’s identity. I later figured out that this face was the key, not the face of the person I was transplanting.”

“You were supposed to create a spy to infiltrate the US military?”

“Looks like it. I was going to create a fake Secretary of Defense to impersonate George H. Brown.”

“Unlimited access to all US secrets. Locations of defenses, offensive weapons, names of spies working undercover. But it would not have worked. The scars would have been visible; at most he would have been suspected in a few hours. He would have had to act fast, but even a few hours could do major damage.”

Matthew didn’t bother to fill in the details about Tom’s upgrade of the Steriazol. The double would have served as Secretary of Defense, with access to everything. He would have been an identical replacement.

“He would be undetectable,” Matthew murmurs.

“I’m sure you don’t need a high school

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