The Clone Initiative

The Forbidden Colony - Book 6

Gail Daley

Gail's Other Books

SPACE COLONY JOURNALS

Options of Survival

Destiny Rising

Tomorrows Legacy

The Interstellar Jewel Heist

The Designer People

Alien Trails

Quantum Light

Union of Confederated Planets

PORTAL WORLD TALES

Historical Notes on Portal Worlds*

ST. ANTONI – THE FORBIDDEN COLONY

Warriors of St. Antoni

The Enforcers

The Gaslight Bandits

The Portal Lawman

Cradle of Fire

The Clone Initiative

THE OUTLAW COLONIES

Apex Predator

Game Theory

Heirs of Avalon*

Babylon Shattered*

Clone Ambition*

MAGI OF RULARI

Spell of The Magi

Magi Storm

Paladin*

NON-FICTION

The Complete Modern Artist’s Handbook

PAMPHLETS

Introduction to The Internet #1

The Hard Stuff – Handbook #2

Art Show Basics – Handbook #3

Framing on a Budget – Handbook #4

Are You Making Money? – Handbook #5

Social Media & Graphics – Handbook #6

Just for Writers – Handbook #7

*Working Title. Release dates TBA

The Clone Initiative Copyright © 2021 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

e-book ISBN: 9798201026455

Print book ISBN- 9798201388669

Hardback ISBN: 979-8-88627-280-2

ASIN: B09F5WL4Y3

For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed "Attention: Permissions Coordinator," at the address below.

Gail Daley

5688 E Sussex Way

Fresno, CA 93727

www.gaildaley.com

Ordering Information: Quantity sales. Special discounts are available on quantity purchases by corporations, associations, and others. For details, contact the "Bulk Sales Department" at the address above.

Publisher’s Note: This is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is unintentional and accidental.

Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination. Locales and public names are sometimes used for atmospheric purposes. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, companies, events, institutions, or locales is completely coincidental.

Book The Clone Initiative Gail Daley—1st ed. Copyright © 2021 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art

Cover Art Copyright © 2021 by Gail Daley dba Gail Daley's Fine Art Used with permission

The name Barsoom which is used as the name of a colony in these books, BARSOOM(R) is a registered trademark of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. And Used by Permission.

About This Book

"A fast-paced Sci-Fi thriller of adventure and romance in a post-apocalyptic dystopian society."

Are Clones Human or Property? Do you believe there are disposable people?

Is a clone the property of the creator, or are they simply artificially created humans? Tally is one of three identical triplets. Are Tally and her two sisters artificial beings? Clones created in a lab but raised as human girls? She had always been told they are human, but are they? She needs to know Now, because the battle over the humanity of artificially created people is heating up.

Tally, Tash, and Tam are caught in the middle of the battle; a clone manufacturing company is attempting to claim them as their property. Escaped Clones are attacking isolated farms and houses, and the state legislature is considering a law to make everyone submit to a DNA scan to screen for Cloning markers.

When she rescues six cloned babies after a massacre at a clone farm, Tally must decide what she believes about what makes a person human.

Tomorrow is Another Day

LIAM’S ROPE sailed out and looped around the tricorns neck. The animal stopped and glared at him with almost human disdain. Tricorns were native to the colony of St. Antoni. Like the earthly horses they resembled, they were herd animals. Looks can be deceiving—St. Antoni Tricorns might have been genetically related to equines somewhere in the distant past. Tricorns were more closely related to earthly Zebras than horses. They ranged in size from around fourteen hands to almost eighteen hands tall, with well-muscled shoulders and haunches. Their stripes might be almost any color on any colored hide. Two sharp horns jutted from their broad foreheads, with a shorter, blunt one just above their nostrils.

When the colonists had first snuck through the illegal portal, they had quickly realized some form of transportation other than their own two legs was needed. Without a manufacturing base to build automobiles, St. Antonians looked to history for an answer to the problem.

The Tricorns who ranged St. Antoni’s prairies and valleys in large herds solved the problem. Capturing and taming the wild herds was a thriving business on the frontier world of St. Antoni.

Liam Brendan had just spent the last three months with a wild tricorn hunting crew in the vast prairie east of Gateway City, St. Antoni’s oldest settlement. He had brought his share of the herd back to Junction City to his sister Natalie’s tricorn ranch and was engaged in gentling them for riding and eventual sale.

The tricorn at the other end of his rope glowered at him, resenting the confinement. Liam made a soft whuffing noise and the animal pricked his ears. Slowly so he wouldn’t frighten the stallion, Liam gradually walked up the rope until he was about a foot away from the tricorn.

“There now,” he crooned. “You’re quite a beauty, aren’t you?” It was true; The tricorn had brilliant red stripes over a black hide. He was at least sixteen hands high, with nice, sloping shoulders, long, powerful legs, and a well-muscled rump. Slowly Liam reached into his pocket and pulled out a long purple tuber called an alatae or lavender yam, holding it out on his flattened palm.

He knew from experience Tricorns were inordinately fond of alataes, so he waited patiently until the stallion worked up enough courage to step forward and sniff the offering. Finally, the animal snapped it off his hand and stepped back crunching on it.

“That’s great progress,” Levi Jones, his brother-in-law who had been watching Liam gentle the tricorn, kept his voice in the same low range Liam had used. “How long have you been working with him?”

“Not long. We just unloaded them from the train cars last week. I left them alone for several days so they could get used to their new accommodations.” As he spoke, Liam loosened the loop of rope and let the tricorn slip his head out of it.

He turned to his visitor. “What brings you out here?”

Physically the two men were different types; Levi Jones was a known gunfighter and Enforcer. He was a little over medium height with a dark, wedge shaped face, piercing grey eyes and dark hair. Liam was about the same height, with a shock of blond, almost white hair, grey eyes, and a sunburnt complexion.

Like Levi, Liam was dressed in the jeans, homespun shirt, high topped riding boots and wide-brimmed leather hat favored by those who worked outdoors on St. Antoni. Both men carried old-fashioned pistols strapped around their waists in leather holsters. Liam wore his gun because guns were a necessary tool on St. Antoni. Outside the cities the planet was populated with wild animals, some of whom were extremely dangerous. Liam had no wish to make a name for himself as a gunman. Levi wore two gun belts on both sides with the holsters reachable by either hand because as an Enforcer, an elite member of St. Antoni’s law enforcement, he never knew when he might have to use a gun.

“Not that I’m not glad to see you,” Liam said, “but I know you were on duty at the Enforcer’s office today. What’s the matter?”

Levi dismounted, dropping the reins so his tricorn could crop a little grass. “Let’s go and sit down,” he said, gesturing to a shady bench beside the barn.

“Did you know Belinda Smith is getting married?” Levi asked.

Liam shrugged. “She told me, “he said. He eyed Levi curiously. “You weren’t worried about how I’d take it were you?”

“Jade is,” Levi said, referring to his wife and Liam’s oldest sister. “I know you’ve corresponded with her ever since you helped rescue her when you were children. Jade is afraid you might have a deeper feeling for her other than friendship.”

“No,” Liam shook his head. “I don’t say I might not have developed them as we got older, but it didn’t happen. The trouble is none of you understand her. Belinda is a daddy’s girl. The thing she wants the most is to please her father. Any man who married her would take second place to him. I don’t want the kind of a marriage where I play second fiddle to her daddy.”

Levi looked relieved. “Do you mind if I pass that along to Jade?”

“Go ahead. It’s not a secret.”

“You were right to think I had more than one reason to come out here today.”

At Liam’s look of inquiry, he continued, “Did you ever meet a Portal Runner named Tom Mix?”

Liam frowned. Portal Runners were the local name for those who smuggled needed items from earth to the Forbidden Colonies. “No, I don’t think so. The Runner who brought us across was a woman.”

“Well, Tom is the head of the Portal Runners. I don’t know if you are aware of it, but sometimes the Runners will remove people on earth who are too nosy about the Portal.”

“Take care of them? You mean exile them the way they did Harry Rathbone?”

Harry Rathbone had been his Uncle Bob’s security specialist on earth. When Jade and her siblings vanished after witnessing their uncle kill three people, Uncle Bob had sent Rathbone after them. He had been caught nosing around the Gate on a run night, captured and exiled to St. Antoni.

“The Laughing Mountain crew usually does handle nosy people in that fashion. Mix and his people favor a more—permanent—solution.”

“You mean he kills them?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“And this concerns me, how?”

“Your Uncle Bob is dead,” Levi told him.

Liam received this news with mixed feelings. He had fond memories of some things left behind on earth, but he also loved his new life on St. Antoni. News of Uncle Bob’s death didn’t cause any grief—not the way it had been when his parents had been killed in a car accident. He had only known his uncle about six months when they had fled his estate after the murders; not enough time to develop any great connection with the man.

“Are you saying Mix killed him? My uncle was involved in a lot of criminal activities; one of his enemies might have done it,” he said.

Levi nodded. “Yes, Jade told me. At this point who killed him isn’t the issue. Mix thinks your uncle might have left notes about the Portal somewhere in his stuff. If one of you doesn’t come back to claim the estate, it will be sold at auction and whatever secrets your uncle had knowledge of might get back to the Portal Authority Agency. Mix wants you to come back and claim your uncle’s estate so you can go through everything to make sure there’s no references to either the Portal or Laughing Mountain.”

“Returning out of the blue might cause even more problems,” Liam said. “Where would I say I’ve been for the last six years?”

“Come to the house tonight and talk to Mix. He can explain how your return can be managed.”

Alright.”

Do You Want to Live Forever?

Levi should have warned him, Liam thought, seeing Jade’s expression. He might have known his protective eldest sister would be strongly against any of them returning to earth.

“Your uncle is dead,” Mix said, He was older than Liam remembered, and he had shed the coke-bottle glasses and fusty mannerisms he wore as a disguise on earth. He appeared oblivious to the storm about to break over his head. “Liam will be in no personal danger returning.”

“You don’t know that!” Jade said. “You don’t know those people. Whoever took over Uncle Bob’s criminal business might see Liam as a threat.”

“I’m sorry Mrs. Jones,” Mix said, “but someone from your family needs to claim your uncle’s estate. We can’t risk strangers who might have their own agenda getting their hands on any correspondence about the Portal. If the Portal Authority finds out the town of Laughing Mountain is operating an unlicensed Gate, the entire town will be arrested."

“How do you know my uncle knew anything about the Portal?” she demanded. “Harry Rathbone only told him we had disappeared near there.”

“I had my people keep an eye on him,” Mix said. “He kept nosing around the town. The secret of the Portal is too big and too many people are aware of it. His investigators could have figured it out.”

Jade bit her lip. “What exactly do you want Liam to do?”

“If he claims the estate, he can search your uncle’s house for anything mentioning the Portal or the Forbidden colonies. It isn’t just the Laughing Mountain community who is at risk; everyone on this planet might lose their homes—everything generations of their families worked for. Surely you see that.”

Jade was silent, her hands knotted in her lap. Levi covered them with his own. Due to the Portal Settlement Acts, Earth’s Governments and Industries controlled access to any Portal leading off earth. It had powers similar to those given to the Police and Military. Originally the Portal Authority was created to combat the mishmash of different smuggling rings who brought in badly needed tech, supplies and just about anything else the colonists needed or wanted. The smugglers were perceived as a threat by Government and big industry. The original Portal Authority Agency had evolved into an organization to regulate access to the Portals.

Tom Mix and his people were Portal Runners; the select few allowed two-way passages through the gates by the colonists.

“How are you planning to protect him if my uncle’s gang decides to take Liam out?” Jade asked.

“He won’t go in uncovered,” Mix replied. “We have good relations with the Blue Moon Militia, the paramilitary group controlling the area around Laughing Mountain. When he goes to meet his uncle’s lawyer, one of them will come with him. We’ve also arranged for Liam to live in the dormitories used by students from the Forbidden Colonies while he’s on earth.”

Jade looked at her brother. Her hands twisted, turning to clasp Levi’s. “You’re a grown man,” she said. “It has to be your decision, but—"

“Liam, I think you should speak to Harry Rathbone,” Levi intervened. “He has been gone a while, but he would know the players in your uncle’s gang. In fact, I think you should ask him to accompany you when you confront Bob Master’s associates.”

“Harry might not want to go back,” Jade said. “Didn’t he just get engaged?”

Jade was correct. Harry Rathbone didn’t want to return to earth, and said so when Levi, Liam and Mix found him at his fiancée’s house.

By and large Rathbone had found life on St. Antoni much more rewarding than life on earth had been. On earth he had been a security chief for a crook whose main occupation had been conning honest folk out of their money, laundering money for the larger mob and selling designer drugs to his neighbors. Life expectancy had not been high.

“No,” Rathbone said flatly when Mix put the question to him. “I like it here, and I’m getting married next month.”

“Look,” Mix said persuasively, “If Bob Masters left any notes about St. Antoni and the Portal Authority finds them, your nice comfortable life here could come crashing down around your ears. You know what they do to unregistered colonies when they find them.”

“Harry and I are getting married at the end of the month,” Linda Harris, his fiancée said. “I don’t want him traipsing all over the universe putting out your fires.”

“It’s your fire too,” Mix retorted. “Look, if I can guarantee Harry here will be back in time for the wedding will that satisfy you?”

“Mix, your word is about as trustworthy as a sander,” Rathbone said, referring to a poisonous reptile native to St. Antoni who usually struck from ambush.

“Are you going to hold that against me forever?” Mix asked. He had been the one to Shanghai Rathbone to St. Antoni several years ago.

“Yes, I am,” Rathbone said.

Mix scowled and gave up. “Is Antonio Bertelli’s word good enough?” he asked.

“Bertelli? The head of Gateway?” Levi inquired. “How can you guarantee it?”

“Because he was the one to give the order to eliminate Masters,” Mix said.

Rathbone and Linda exchanged glances. “It is important,” he said.

She sighed. “I know. But if you get yourself killed over there, I’m coming after you, and you won’t like it when I find you, you hear me?”

Harry put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her. “That’s my girl,” he said.

“Fine,” Mix said. “I’ll get us tickets on the train leaving for Gateway in the morning.”

As Liam was stuffing clothing and other items he thought he might need into his duffle, Levi came into his room and handed him a six gun with a shoulder holster. “It’s not as easy to get to as it would be in a gun belt,” he said, “but I understand no one but military or law enforcement openly carries a gun on earth.”  

“Thank you,” Liam said.

Most of the Jones clan living in Junction City turned out at the station the next morning to see Liam off. Even Hortense Jones had come. Hortense was the defacto head of the Jones Clan. She was a tall, stoutly built woman, but lately she had trouble standing for long periods, so she was seated on a fold up stool. Liam walked over to her and bent to kiss her papery cheek. “Thank you for coming out this early to see me off,” he said.

“You be careful,” Hortense patted his cheek. “Maybe you’ll find a nice girl there to bring home with you. It’s time you settled down and got married.”

Liam grinned. “Maybe I will,” he said.

Mix eyed the group askance. “Since when did you become a Jones?” he asked.

“Since the day we got here,” Liam told him. He picked up his duffle, slinging it over a shoulder. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Harry Rathbone was already waiting for them inside the cars. He was reading a novel; one of Hetty’s, Liam noticed, reading the ‘by Henrietta Jones’ tooled on the leather cover.

The trip on the steam engine to Gateway took seven days. Getting off the train at the station, Liam and the others elected to walk to the Arch containing the Portal. The golf carts towing trailers were just starting to come through the Portal’s iridescent swirl of color as they reached it.

Liam remembered once all the loaded carts had arrived, empty ones would be hitched to the carts and towed back through the portal for use in the next run. A few carts would carry items for trade on earth; principally handcrafts which the Laughing Mountain merchants would declare made by crafters living up in the hills behind the town.

The three of them swung up into the seats on a four-person cart driven by Mark Connors.

“Got everything?” he asked.

“Yes,” Mix replied. “You made the arrangements?”

“Yes, but he’s too old to be taken for a student,” Connors indicated Rathbone.

“This is Harry Rathbone. He used to work for Liam’s uncle. He came along to help Liam navigate through his uncle’s former business partners. Put him up in the hotel at our expense,” Mix said.

Connors grunted. He said nothing more because they had entered the Portal.

Liam hadn’t forgotten anything about his first trip through one. It was deathly silent, not even the small electric engines in the golf carts could be heard. When they popped out on the other side, they entered along the backside of an outdoor theater. Connors checked the cart.

“Here is where you get out. Tally Higgins is waiting for you Brendan. Rathbone, you and Mix wait here while I park the cart.”

He drove inside a large underground garage, parking his cart in one of the neat rows reserved for them.

While they waited for Conners to park the cart, Liam had leisure to look around. It was dark and he couldn’t see much but he tried to recall what he had known about the town before he and his sisters had emigrated to St. Antoni.

Laughing Mountain was typical of small mountain towns. It had four main streets. Cinder Blossom, the one with which tourists were most familiar, housed shops and café's catering to the many visitors drawn to the town for its weekend events. A block over and running across Cinder Blossom was Cider, where the civic center, jail and town hall were located. One block down from Cinder Blossom was Hickory Lane leading past the livery stable to the school and college dorm. Zephyr, the final main street, ran the same direction as Cider ended at the Hedge maze with an outdoor theatre in the center. The rodeo grounds were a little further along this street. The Portal gate was located inside the center of the Hedge maze.

This Heart of Mine

“LIAM BRENDAN?” a warm contralto voice asked.

Liam turned and stared. A young woman about his age had spoken. She had straight hair, black as night tumbling in a waterfall down her back, and light blue eyes, her aqua T-shirt and tight calf length pants showed off her full breasts, tiny waist and flaring hips, leaving little to a man's imagination. She was the most gorgeous woman he had ever seen.

Rathbone elbowed him. “Close your mouth before you swallow a fly, kid,” he said.

“I’m Liam Brendan,” he said, proud of the fact his voice hadn’t squeaked.

“I’m Tally Higgins,” she said holding out her hand.

Liam took it, realized he was supposed to shake it and did so.

“I’m your orientation committee,” she said. She pointed to the duffle at his feet. “Is that your stuff?”

“Yes,” he replied, shouldering it.

She nodded approvingly. “Good. I bet you haven’t eaten yet. If you’ll follow me, we’ll get you something to eat. The Dorm kitchen is closed for the night, so it will be sandwiches at my place.”

When she turned to leave, he stood watching the admirable sway of her hips as she walked away. Rathbone poked him again. Liam jolted awake and hastily followed her, his longer legs catching up in three swift strides. When they exited the Hedge maze, Tally turned left toward a row of carts parked with their noses up against the hedge.

“I’ve got a cart over here,” Tally said. “I didn’t know how much you were bringing with you. You can throw your bag in the back.”

He did so and slid into the passenger seat, catching a faint aroma of cinnamon and some flowery scent as she slid behind the wheel. “Is this how everyone travels here?” he asked.

“Most of us locals use them to get around in town. Out of town we use bigger vehicles. Do you drive?”

“No. I was only thirteen when we left.”

“We’ll need to get you some driving lessons then,” she said.

She drove past Cinder Blossom Street and took a narrow lane running across it. On either side were small, fenced yards attached to two- and three-story buildings.

“You live over a business?” Liam asked curiously.

“My sister is the town bookkeeper. Our apartment is upstairs,” she said, pulling into the driveway next to a fenced yard.

“You can bring the bag inside,” she told him. “I’ll take you over to the dormitory in the morning.”

As Liam followed her up the narrow wooden stairs to the apartment door, he was again treated to the admirable sight of her well-shaped backside.

“It’s rude, you know,” she told him.

“What’s rude?” he asked.

“Staring openly at a woman’s butt,” she replied. “Do they let you get away with it back home?”

“Sorry,” he said. “The girls back home don’t wear such—” he stopped; aware he might be digging himself into a hole.

“Such what?” Tally asked.

“Ah—their clothes don’t fit as well as yours,” he said.

Tally snorted, opening the door. He followed her inside and waited while she reset the alarm.

An elderly black and white dog with huge ears barked asthmatically from the couch.

“Hush Recon!” Tally said softly. “You’ll wake everyone up!”

“I’m awake,” an older version of Tally sat in a rocker, wrapped in a quilt, cuddling two sleeping children. “Where’s Mark?” she asked.

“Liam, this is my sister Joyce,” Tally said. “Joyce, this is Liam Brendan. He’s the one Mix told us about. Mark will probably be along as soon as he gets Mix and the guy who came through with them settled at the hotel.”

“Kitchen is that way,” Tally pointed. “I’ll be there shortly. I just want to help Joyce put the monsters back to bed. Did Eric have another nightmare?”

Joyce yawned. “It was Finn this time.” She handed over one of the boys to Tally and rose with the other one.

Liam set his duffle against the wall and wandered into the large kitchen. A wooden trestle table with six chairs sat near the large window overlooking the street. The sink and cabinets ran along the outside wall, and a large window opened on the alley, giving a view of the building across from it. An old-fashioned gas stove sat on the wall overlooking the back yard. A large island work area separated the kitchen from the living room.

Mark Connors unlocked the door just as Tally was setting a large bowl of stew in front of Liam.

“Any stew left?” he asked, yawning.

“Sure,” she replied. “Joyce always makes lots on Run night. I didn’t want to wake everyone over at the dorm, so I offered to fix Liam something here.”

“Good idea,” Mark got his own bowl out of the cabinet and ladled stew from the pot on the stove. Liam wondered just what his relationship with Tally was; plainly he was at home in her house, but she wasn’t the only woman who lived here. Age wise, Mark was closer to Joyce than to Tally.

“I thought I heard you come in,” Joyce dropped a kiss on Mark’s cheek. The older woman had donned a fluffy pink robe over her nightdress. “Finn had a nightmare. Is there any hot tea Tally?”

“I was just about to make some,” Tally said, running water into a glass carafe which she put into the microwave. She added loose tea leaves to an infuser basket and set it aside to wait for the water to heat.

“What did the counselor from Shangri-La say about the nightmares?” Mark asked.

Joyce made a face. “She said some children just get them. Until they are old enough to describe the nightmares there isn’t much we can do except comfort them when it happens.”

“So much for their mystic solutions,” Mark snorted.

“They try. Liam, I put a pillow and some blankets out on the couch. No sense waking up everyone at the Dormitory house in the middle of the night. Tally can help you get settled into your room there tomorrow.”

She accepted the tea Tally handed her with a grateful smile. “I’m going to check on the boys and go to bed,” she said.

Mark looked up from his bowl. “I’ll be there as soon as I finish,” he said,

When Mark finished eating, he put his bowl in the sink and ran water in it. “I’ll just check the alarms and before I’m gone too,” he told Tally.

She nodded, running hot water into the sink. She put the stew back in the refrigerator and added soap to the sink. Liam brought his dishes and the tea things over to her.

“Where do I dump this?” he asked, holding up the infuser. At home they used a compost pile, but he hadn’t seen one here.

“There’s a Garbage fold out in the bottom drawer,” Tally told him, pointing to a flat bin with a handle.

He pulled it out and banged the infuser to shake loose the wet tea leaves.

“I’ll dry if you have a dish towel,” he offered.

“Just rinse these and put them in the drainer,” she said.

The couch wasn’t uncomfortable, but it had been midday when he and Rathbone had arrived at the Portal and the time change made sleep difficult. It was three AM here. He folded his hands behind his head, closing his eyes and willing himself to sleep. The pillows held the faint aroma of cinnamon and flowers he associated with Tally, and he drifted off imagining several pleasant scenarios ending up with her in his arms.

It seemed he had barely drifted off when he awoke to feminine giggles and the weight of a large brindle cat who seemed to have decided his stomach made a good cat bed.

Barely lifting his lids, he saw two girls who looked identical to Tally standing by the kitchen island. One of them was cracking eggs into a bowl and the other was frying bacon.

“How come she gets to meet all the cute guys?” Tam complained.

“She doesn’t,” Tash replied. “Randal from Barsoom isn’t bad looking and he obviously wants to date you, not her, and Mathias is good looking too.”

“Mathias might be taken,” Tam said. “I think he and Ivette might be engaged or something.”

“He doesn’t act engaged,” Tash said.

“But you aren’t serious about him,” Tam said. “I happen to know the guy you want is Jase Delany, but he won’t give you the time of day.”

“Oh, shut up,” Tash replied with sisterly candor.

Liam levered the cat off his stomach and stood up. He folded the blankets and pillow neatly on the couch and went to retrieve his shaving gear from his duffle.

Twenty minutes later, freshly shaved and with clean clothes, Liam stopped in the kitchen doorway. “Is there coffee?” he asked.

Both girls looked up from their preparations. “Over there,” Tam said, pointing to a hissing machine with steam coming out of it. “Cups are above it. I’m Tam and this is Tash. You met Tally last night.”