"Who are you?" asked Rollie, to Loubar.
"It's me -- Loubar," said Loubar.
"You know, Mira," said Rollie, "I thought so at first. But after
that wonderfully crafted speech of yours, I noticed that, well, you seemed
a little out of character."
Loubar said nothing, but kept the gun still steady on Rollie.
"And a very good job with the masks," said Rollie.
"Masks?" said Mira. "Plural?"
"Oh yeah," said Rollie, coughing lightly into his fist. "Loubar's
technology is amazing. Too bad Angie's not here to see it again.
Yes, I know you're not Angie. I'm sorry -- you didn't get her quite
right then, with that little panic outburst. Where is Angie being
kept?"
Loubar's eyes widened, and Angie looked down at the floor.
Mira gaped at Rollie as he continued. "And," he said, moving slowly
toward Loubar, "the question remains: who are you ... both?"
"Loubar" straightened, and smiled, keeping his gun pointed at Rollie.
"We're not going to tell you."
Suddenly the door exploded inward as a team from Mid-town South Precinct
burst into the small hospital room. Startled, "Loubar" swung his
gun at the cops. Rollie yelled, leaping toward him, pushing the gun
out of his hands just as the Loubar lookalike squeezed off a shot, which
bore into the wall.
"Angie" jumped out of her seat, and from somewhere behind her back drew
a small handgun. Before she could shoot, Mira slammed her over the
head with the nearest available object: a portable alarm clock.
Loubar wrestled with Rollie to get back his gun as the police charged in.
Detective Rizzo and another cop pulled him backward and slapped cuffs on
him.
"Put them on her, too," gasped Rollie, pointing to the Angie double.
"On Angie?"
"That's not Angie," said Rollie.
"What are you talking about?"
"She's an impostor," said Rollie.
"A what?!"
Rollie moved closer to the unconscious figure and felt through her pockets,
coming up with a small remote control with two buttons. He pressed
one, and Tony raised one eyebrow as Angie's face melted off, becoming a
translucent mask. Rollie lifted the mask slowly off of the woman,
revealing someone none of them had ever seen before.
"How ... what ... " stuttered Tony.
"You'll probably find a remote for his mask somewhere in his pockets too,"
said Rollie, nodding his head toward the struggling Loubar double.
Rizzo moved forward, and felt through the man's pockets until he pulled
out another small, identical remote. Rizzo deactivated the mask,
and revealed the true face of the impostor.
"No!" exclaimed the man as the mask fell off. He looked similar to
Loubar in height and weight -- and with the mask, he was enough to completely
fool both Rollie and Mira.
"Who are you?" demanded Tony.
The man growled. "You're too late," he said to Rollie. His
voice had changed. Although before he had sounded like Loubar, his
voice seemed deeper.
"Too late for what?" asked Mira, glancing at Rollie worriedly.
The man smiled, and made the motion of zipping his lips. He raised
both eyebrows, looking at Mira, Rollie, and Tony. He grinned.