Something was wrong. He sat up, hands clawing away the sweat stained sheets, his heart pounding in erratic rhythm. William searched about the room for the source of the disturbance. What had woken him? His eyes moved from the gently billowing drapes to the electronic lock on his bedroom door. His brows knitted together. Something was wrong, he couldn’t quite get a handle on what it was. He heard a stirring beside him, and a soft hand brushed the small of his back.

“What is it?” asked the girl sleepily.

William closed his eyes as he thought. Who was she? Had he been out drinking again? He sifted through her memories. They had met last night in the Hawthorn. She had found him strangely irresistible. Despite her own rules she had followed him back to his place. Fiona was her name. Agnostic family from the west coast. Studying law here in L.A. Had fun last night but barely…

William pulled out of her mind before he disappeared down a rabbit-hole of prying out her deepest, darkest secrets. He winced away the fragments of her thoughts. “I thought…”

“Yes?” she asked.

William shook his head. “I have no idea how I got here.”

She sat up, pulling the sheet to her shoulders to keep herself covered. “We took your private jet. You wanted to show it off, remember? Do a lap of the coastline while we drank and partied?”

He pursed his lips as he fought through the brain fog. “Did we?” He caught snatches of memory and feeling as he dug backwards, flashes from the night before, or perhaps another time.

“Did I take something?” he asked.

“We both did,” she laughed. “I haven’t seen someone put so much whiskey and lace away in one night. You were an animal.”

William nodded. “Oh.” It didn’t seem right. He didn’t expect to be home for days. Wasn’t he going to Connecticut after Ohio?

“What’s wrong? Do you regret last night?” asked Fiona with a note of dismay.

“Not at all,” he said, giving her a brief smile. “I don’t feel right, that’s all.”

Fiona shrugged and pouted at him. “Like…”

“What day is it?” he asked.

“Uhhh… Sunday morning, I’m guessing,” she replied.

William frowned. “Did I say anything to you about where I was beforehand?”

“As in?”

He stood up and slipped on the underwear he had thrown on the floor. He walked from one side of the room to the other. “I remember… being at work,” he said softening the truth. “We were having problems with one of our employees and I was sent to Ohio to deal with him.”

“Sounds important,” yawned Fiona. “Got a cigarette?”

He pointed at the nightstand. “Top drawer.”

“You don’t mind?” she said as she leaned over to help herself.

“Go for it.”

Fiona rummaged through the drawer. The sheet slipped exposing her back and the top of her buttocks. William’s eyes lingered on the arch of her spine. She glanced at him over a shoulder and gave him a coy smile. He turned away and moved to the window, drawing back a drape with a finger. The neon and LED adverts of the city glowed beyond the horizon. In the dim light he could make out the ridges and troughs of the surrounding valleys. A stream of gyros flew overhead in both directions. He heard the strike of a lighter and a crackle as she took a drag on her cigarette.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Did you get everything done in Ohio?” she asked.

William dropped the drape. “I don’t remember. That’s the problem.”

“Well, you did say you were celebrating a big win when I met you. You seemed pretty happy with yourself,” said Fiona.

William closed his eyes. Had he beaten the clone? It was possible.

“You said you were going to Connecticut next. What’s there?”

“My business partner is upgrading a facility there after recent setbacks,” said William, still racking his memory for clues. He sat on the edge of the bed.

“Who do you work for?”

“Kemprex. I’m head of security,” he lied.

“Ohhh…” gasped Fiona. “You know David Kurniec? He’s so fucking cool.”

Though he was often asked, he couldn’t help but brag. “He’s my uncle. We’re pretty close.”

Fiona clapped her hands. “Do you have his number?”

William nodded.

“And he’s still in Connecticut?” asked Fiona.

He looked at her. She had a phone in her hands. Where did that come from? “I guess. We were going there after the problem in Ohio.”

“You said something about a Null implant last night. Does your boss’s security detail have them too?”

He whipped around and glared at her. That was a very specific item to bring up. Even blackout drunk, he doubted he’d bring up something so sensitive. She ignored him and typed on her phone with one hand while the other held a smoking cigarette. “Who are you?”

Fiona gave him another seductive smile. “Me, silly.”

He stood up from the edge of the bed. “Listen, bitch. Don’t play games with me. Who do you work for?”

Fiona laughed, stretched her arms over her head and flicked the cigarette across the room. “I’m currently unemployed. Between jobs so to speak. I think I know what I’ll try next, however.”

William leaned down and grabbed her wrist. “Who are you?”

She twisted her wrist within his grip until they both clasped each other by the forearm. William looked down curiously then back up. Fiona wore a white dress, cut from the same cloth as his bedsheets.

“It’s ready,” she said, pulling him toward her.

“What?” asked William, resisting her.

“Your new home.”

The bedroom wall split apart in a blinding flash of light. The world moved beneath his planted feet. He raised a hand to block his eyes, but the light shone through. As he blinked away the strain, the outline of objects came into focus again. Colour bled into the white. Fiona stood on a rocky ledge a dozen paces in front of him. William stumbled toward her, his bare feet scraping on the jagged rock.

“What have you done?”

“I’ve won.”

“I don’t understand.”

Fiona cocked her head to the side. “There is trouble above. I’m going to take this opportunity to leave. I thought about killing you, but my heart really wasn’t in it. You didn’t give the orders after all. My beef is with Yelich and Kurniec. There is a little favour I want you to do for me, though.”

William froze. “What makes you think I’ll help you?”

Fiona pointed at the horizon. Hedgerows in the shape of a complex maze stretched across the landscape. Above, stairwells in random, logic defying directions filled the sky. “I’ve already planted the seed. The answer is the key you need to make it out of this prison I’ve created.”

William chuckled. “A maze? You think this can hold me?”

Fiona smiled back at him. “Not at all. Just long enough for me to escape and for you to come around to my plot for revenge.”

William rolled his eyes. “This is pathetic. You can’t just plant an idea in my head. I can smell a trap a mile away.”

“I’ll make it easy for you and tell you the answer. I want you to protect Yelich and the Hill clones,” said Fiona. “The company will not survive without them.”

William laughed. “I already protect them. You can’t trick me.”

Fiona shrugged. “Then you won’t see the betrayal until it’s too late.” She stepped off the ledge and dropped from view.

William ran to the edge. He skidded to a stop and peered over the edge. She had disappeared.

She?

It was his clone of course. He hadn’t left Ohio. He was trapped within his own consciousness.

“Bastard thinks he’s won…” he said to the maze. This was his mind. He was in control.