Uri smiled and Rollie almost did a double take at the uncanny resemblance once again to Victor, "Well, Urs- go ahead. I’ll go back and tend to things."

Angie was recalling Uri’s words in her mind; amniotic sac…embryo and thinking back, she remembered the Doctor’s conversation with her earlier- all medical terms about cells and artificial wombs and implantation. Her head was starting to clear from the anesthesia and drugs they had given her.

"Oh my God!" Angie said, looking down at her abdomen, "you implanted some sort of fetus in me?"

"No, no- we only used your ova dear- your egg- zapped it with our dear brother’s DNA- of course, only the best was used. Dr. Batham is one of the world’s leading authorities on genetic engineering and you know, cloning."

"Cloning?

"Yes, my dear," Dr. Batham replied, looking at her through his trifocal lenses, "we were able to get a wonderful blastocyst formation from the union, then let it divide cellularly to the time of needed implantation. We did, of course, use your natural fallopian tube and uterus for that necessary step. Once the cells had divided to form the trophoblastic state, we removed it quickly from your uterus and hence- we have placed embryo in artificial womb process for the rapid cloning sequence."

"Wait, you sick, son-of-a-bitch!" Rollie shouted from the other side of the room, "you created a baby from Angie and Loubar’s cells?"

"I prefer to call it cloning," Mr. Tyler as we only used certain cells from Ms. Ramirez and the nature environment of her reproductive organs for a few hours- hardly a 50/50 normal fetal developmental process!" Doctor Batham replied as if he had been insulted.

"Like I said, sick! What will this get you? What are you trying to prove?" Rollie asked, his mind still not comprehending the Loubars’ insidious plans.

"What this will get us, Mr. Tyler is the newest biological weapon. Our brother Victor, was planning on the propagation of his own species for worldwide terrorism. With his brilliant mind and the cloning of his cells, there would be a new world reform. With control of the stock markets in all the major countries, the military forces, our brother’s domination would be utmost- supreme," Ursula told him, her voice strong and preaching.

"You can’t believe this could happen, based on a few extra Loubars, now?" Rollie continued, shaking his head as Angie, who had said nothing, continued to look at her abdomen and touched it softly.

"You just don’t get it, Tyler," Uri added, "Victor was the most proliferate weapon’s dealer in the world. He had already amassed a fortune in weaponry as well as money. By cloning himself, he had hoped to be able to sit back and enjoy the ride for awhile. "

"But come on, there has never been any human cloned!" Rollie rebutted, "so, I don’t understand what can be done here?"

"The public has heard nothing," Doctor Batham said, stepping up in front of Rollie who was still straining at his fist cuffs, "and I doubt they will for probably 20 more years. There have been humans cloned. There are some that walk among you in today’s world that are clones, not invitro births.

"Then, what’s this got to do with me and doing some sort of F/X stuff for a movie?" Rollie said abruptly, drawing his knees up against his chest.

"Cloning does take awhile and we need the hard cash now," Uri told him coldly, "our film of what we will sell as rapid cloning will utilize your special effects to show a rapid progression of cloning for our clients."

"And what you got in there?" Rollie asked about the so call lifeform that was in the other room, "will I be using that as well?"

"It will be filmed for accuracy," Ursula replied, walking over to Rollie and pulled out her revolver, "and it will be done soon." She pointed the revolver first at Rollie and then walked over and placed the gun nozzle to Angie’s head who winced and tried to move away from Ursula on the bed.

"Leave her be! Haven’t you hurt her enough? Your whole family, for God’s sake, starting with Victor!" Rollie shouted, his heart pounding with indignation for Angie’s abuse.

"My, what a protective lover," Ursula commented, "keeping Ms. Ramirez alive for the moment could prove useful."

Doctor Batham shook his head and walked out the door. His realm was cloning and science. The money was also important to what he needed even if it meant dealing with the Loubars.

Uri smiled at her and then over at Rollie, "Oh, by the way, this gizmo…" and he held up what was left of the PDA, with electronic component parts dangling through the cracked casing, "it fell out of Angela’s clothing when we undressed her. Nice bod, Angie!" Uri smiled and tossed the smashed PDA over into the middle of the room as he left.

Though Rollie could only pull at his cuffs in anger and confinement, Angie was not restrained. She had cowered in a corner of the bed, resting her face against the wall. Ursula backed out of the room, blowing Rollie a sarcastic kiss and slammed the door shut, the locking mechanism clicking into place.

"Angie!" Rollie called.

"Please Angie, look at me!" he begged her for he feared she would literally lose her mind if he didn’t get her back and talking to him.

He could see her head turn back slightly and then she slowly, gingerly, lowered her legs off the bed.

"Oh Ange, come here, love," he said, barely above a whisper. Angie looked at him then, her face reddened and tear-stained. She wrapped the sheet from the bed around her nakedness and slowly took a few steps. She felt weak and sore. She knew that this hideous process had robbed her of something that she had felt to be a sacred thing to her. It was worse than what Loubar had done to her in life.

If Rollie could have pulled the cuffs from the wall, he would have also pulled down the brick wall around them in his anger. Seeing Angie slowly walk to him was a miracle and she stood in front of him finally as he sat on the floor. With her hand, she touched the top of head and he grabbed it, holding it to his lips.

"What will we do now?" he muttered into her hand, as she went to her knees, facing him, at his eye level now.

"We survive," she replied, meeting his wounded, empathetic eyes with her own. Her eyes, usually a deep, crystal blue were a cold, slate blue now. His hands cupped her face tightly as she leaned forward almost mechanically. As he kissed her, she did not respond. As he held her, she did not warm. She just laid against him, not saying another word for some time.

Rollie continued to talk to her. He speculated on whether Mira had gotten their message. He told her about his plans for the upcoming movie they were slated to begin in a week. He tried almost every subject he could think of, just to let her hear him, to be in his arms. She remained quiet, her eyes dry, and open. He decided to try something else when she continued to stay silent and many hours had passed.

"I imagine you will want your Uncle to give you away, eh?" he said, softly in her ear.

He felt her body go rigid as if the words he had just spoken had gone straight through her heart and out her back like a knife.

"What? You’d rather Dingo take you down the aisle, because if that’s what you want, it’s okay with me but personally…" he continued to say before she turned around, facing him and pushed back away from him, her eyes focused on him angrily.

"You can’t marry me now!" she said, her teeth clenched and voice tremulous.

"What? Angie, what are you saying, of course I am going to marry you!" Rollie told her, surprised at her response. He had hoped that his somewhat pathetic attempt at wedding arrangements might bring her around, at least smile a little.

"No," she replied, harshly, and stood up, barely able to walk now. He would not have been able to help her if she fell because she had distanced herself from him as she backed away.

"Ange? What’s the matter? Please tell me!" Rollie begged, as he watched her struggle to get back to the bed across the room.

Angie would not answer him. Her horror that he would actually try to marry her after what they had done to her was beyond her. She could not think straight. Rollie’s tone and sympathy were too painful. She would not marry a man who felt sorry for her. She collapsed on the bed, her spinning mind finally came to a stable point in darkness, and she welcomed it.