The Lazarus Plot Read online

  "You're sure they're the Hardy boys and not our Hardy boys?" the voice replied, its tone charged with sudden alertness.

  "I'm sure," Iola said. "Unless you were giving me some kind of test."

  "Of course not, we have absolute confidence in you," said the voice. Then it paused, before going on, "That means something went wrong, very wrong, with plan B, after their escape fouled up plan A. We'll have to switch to plan C, the doomsday scenario."

  "What's that?" asked Iola.

  "You'll find out soon," the voice answered.

  "Bring the boys to the conference room. I'll gather the others. It's time to wind things up here."

  There was the click of the intercom being turned off, and Iola turned to the Hardy boys.

  "You heard the boss. Let's go."

  "Is that your boss?" asked Frank. "You've had a change of leadership since we were here last. He sounds different."

  "You'll see," was all Iola would say, and an impatient gesture with her gun stopped any more questions.

  The conference room turned out to be the room where Frank and Joe had been questioned during their first visit to the clinic. Familiar faces greeted them when they entered.

  There was the arrogant face of Dr. Helmut von Heissen, the impassive face of Colonel Chin Huan, and the pouting face of Peter Clark.

  One more person was in the room. He was a man of average size and weight, wearing the same white lab coat as the others. But he was far different from them in one respect. He had no face.

  Or rather, his-face was covered by bandages, wrapped mummy like around his head, with gaps at the eyes, nose, and mouth.

  But his voice identified him instantly. It was the voice that had spoken to Iola over the intercom, the Lazarus leader.

  "I couldn't locate Fritz, Hugo, and Ivan," he said. "But I'm sure the Hardy boys here can tell us where they are."

  "Talk," Iola ordered them.

  Frank and Joe looked at the gun in her hand and then at the look in her eyes. Her pitiless gaze told them that her finger was tight on the trigger.

  "Fritz and Hugo are tied up in the front hall closet," said Joe.

  "And Ivan is strapped down in his torture chamber," added Frank.

  "Get them," the Lazarus leader ordered his men. Pon Heissen, Chin, and Peter Clark hurried off.

  "We'll wait until everyone is assembled here," the leader said.

  They didn't have long to wait. In less than ten minutes, the entire team was in the room.

  "I wanted all of us to witness our latest triumph," the leader began proudly. "It will be good for our morale to see what achievements we are capable of especially now, when we have suffered a slight setback. It will help inspire us in the period ahead, when we will have to suspend our operations until we find a secure new base."

  He nodded to Dr. von Heissen. "My good Doctor, I will let you do the unveiling, since it is your superb skill we will be admiring."

  "You do me a great honor," Dr. von Heissen said crisply. He removed a pair of surgical scissors from his worn black leather medical bag and, with practiced expertise, snipped the bandages around the leader's head and carefully unwrapped them. "It can't be!" exclaimed Joe, his jaw dropping.

  "I knew that voice sounded familiar," said Frank, trying to remain cool and ignore the feeling that his brain was being scrambled.

  Standing in front of them was the Gray Man. "You see what a good job you did," the leader said to Dr. von Heissen. .

  "I must admit, I was a little worried," the doctor said. "Those snapshots I had to work from were not of the best quality, even though the Assassins claimed they were the best available." "And your voice passed the test as well, Peter," the leader continued.

  "It would have been even better if they'd given me better tapes," replied Peter Clark, his pale face flushed with pleasure.

  "It is a shame that we could not get the information about this Mr. Gray that we needed from the Network head so that you could have programmed it into me, Colonel Chin," the leader told his chief brainwasher.

  Chin shrugged. "Life is a balance of victory and defeat. One must accept both." "I'm afraid we'll have need of your philosophy in the dark days ahead," said the leader.

  By now Frank had stopped listening to the conversation. He was too busy trying to figure things out.

  "So you planned on kidnapping the Network head and getting information from her about the Gray Man," he said to the Lazarus leader. "Then, after you were programmed well enough, you - " Frank paused, not wanting to say more. He suddenly felt a little sick.

  "Very good," the leader said with a smile. "Please continue. I want to see how smart you really are."

  "Yeah, go on," said Joe. "I'd like to make some sense out of all this, too."

  "All right," replied Frank. "After you got the information you needed from the Network head, you planned to rub her out. Then you'd get your hands on the Gray Man, who was her natural successor. You'd rub him out, too, and take his place. And you'd be head of the most powerful undercover security force in America."

  "Beautiful, isn't it?" said the leader. Then he shrugged. "Such a pity it didn't work out this time. Dr. von Heissen will have to go to the trouble of giving me yet another face, for a while. I must decide if I want my old one, or a nice new one. I always did want to look like Robert Redford."

  "Why not Count Dracula?" asked Joe. "It would be perfect for somebody who likes to suck the life out of the living." Angrily Joe looked at the Lazarus leader. Then he looked at Iola. She was still covering him with her pistol and looking at him with dead eyes. Joe could not believe what Lazarus had done to her.

  The Lazarus leader smiled and turned to his team.

  "I think we should let Joe in on the truth, don't you?" he said. "It is only fitting that he and his brother should appreciate how magnificent your work is, even though they might not applaud."

  "What do you mean?" asked Joe, but Frank suspected what was coming.

  "You tell them, Dr. von Heissen," ordered the leader.

  "Iola here is one of my greatest successes," said Dr. von Heissen. "Of course, I had a great number of excellent photographs to work from. Iola's parents had a superb photo album of their late daughter."

  "Their late daughter, But - " began Joe.

  "See how astonished Joe is? How he still cannot believe this girl is not really his beloved Iola?" the Lazarus leader exclaimed. "And he knew her so well. Doctor, Colonel, Peter, your work has passed the ultimate test with flying colors. "

  "You can't kid me," said Joe. "Nobody but Iola could have known that stuff about all the times we were together by ourselves."

  "There is one thing you did not know about Iola," said the Lazarus leader. "Your girlfriend kept a diary. An extremely detailed diary. It lay untouched in her room, along with her photo albums. All we had to do was get into her room while her parents were away, make copies, and use them to create the Iola you see before you, her looks, her voice, her memories absolutely true to life."

  "But who are you?" Joe asked the girl in a stunned voice.

  "I am ... I am ... " the girl paused and looked to her leader for help.

  "Unfortunately, it was necessary to wipe out the memory of her previous identity to ensure total success in the transformation," said the leader. "Iola two here only knows the part she is supposed to play, like an actress who has memorized her lines, and that she is to follow my orders without question. Am I right, my dear?"

  "But you can't just make puppets out of people," Joe protested. "Human beings aren't made out of some kind of putty."

  At that everyone except Iola II smiled - the leader, the team of scientists, and the two guards, all enjoying Joe's refusal to admit the truth of what he was seeing and hearing.

  Iola II remained expressionless, her eyes blank, as she awaited orders.

  Still smiling, the Lazarus leader said, "I see you are still not convinced, Joe. But maybe I can offer you final proof. I and the others are about to leave you alone with Iola,
so that you will not be able to imagine she is acting out of fear of me. It would rob us of the full pleasure of our triumph if you were not totally convinced. Besides, I'm sure my scientific team here would welcome this excellent test of their work. It will prove valuable in future assignments."

  The leader turned to Iola. "We are leaving now. I want you to wait fifteen minutes, then leave, too, and join us at the clearing in the forest. A helicopter will be waiting there to take us across the Canadian border to the hunting lodge."

  Frank glanced at his watch to see what time the countdown was beginning. The Lazarus leader caught the gesture. "Are you in a hurry to go somewhere?" He asked Frank sarcastically.

  "I'm just seeing how much time you have left," Frank lied, thinking fast. "The Network has this place surrounded. You might as well give up."

  "'You really expect me to believe that the Network would jeopardize an attack on the clinic by letting you try to rescue Iola?" The Lazarus leader laughed cruelly. "How amusing, The Network may be many things, but they are not fools, nor am I. Your coming here could have only been inspired by something as idiotic as Joe's love for his girlfriend. I'm sure our young Romeo did not tell the Network our location. He wouldn't do anything to endanger his dear Iola."

  "I wouldn't, but my double might have," said Joe. "I'm sure the Network has already made our doubles spill the beans about your location. You're not the only ones who play rough to make people talk."

  "The Network can play as rough as they like with the doubles, but it will do them no good," said the leader. "Colonel Chin will tell you that."

  "They are programmed not to reveal anything under any circumstances," Chin agreed.

  "So you see, there is really nothing more to talk about-or to hope for," said the leader. He turned to his men. "Okay, let's get out of here."

  But Iola stopped him. "Sir, you haven't told me what to do with the Hardy boys."

  The Lazarus leader pretended to sound surprised. "Oh, didn't I? What an oversight. But I forgot I can't leave it to your imagination, because you don't have one."

  Then his voice hardened. "I'll tell you very simply what you are to do. After we leave, kill them, Iola. Kill them."

  Chapter 15

  THIS IS NOT Iola. This is not Iola.

  Joe kept telling himself that as he looked at the girl who held him and Frank at gunpoint.

  He saw her look at her watch. She must have been trying to decide exactly when she should squeeze the trigger. She would have to squeeze it just two times. No chance of her missing. The range was too close. Her gaze was too unwavering. Her gun hand was too steady. She was a machine perfectly programmed to kill.

  And yet, This is not Iola, Joe said to himself again.

  The others must have left the house now. In a few minutes, it would be all over for the Hardy boys. In a few minutes, Iola no, Iola II would be running to join her leader and the others.

  This is not Iola. But why then was the feeling that surged through him the same as when he and Iola had been together? When Iola had been alive? When they had loved each other?

  Joe remembered it all so clearly. He felt like a man seeing his life pass in front of him in his final seconds. He was seeing all the times he and Iola had shared. All the memories they had shared. All the memories.

  Suddenly Joe said, "Remember the time we went on that picnic and made plans to go to college together? Remember the way we kissed? Remember how we said we would never break up?"

  Almost despite herself, Iola II replied, "Of course I remember."

  "And remember the time we had that fight and we broke up? Remember how lousy we both felt? Remember how finally we both called each other at the same time and got busy signals and thought the other one was talking to somebody else? Remember how we laughed about it when we were back together again? Remember how wonderful it felt to be going steady again, after we thought we had lost each other forever?"

  "And I gave you that ring and you gave me those earrings and we - " Iola II began. Then she paused, blinking her eyes, as if unsure where she was, in the present or the past.

  By now Frank had realized what Joe was doing.

  "I remember how great you two looked at the prom," he said. "In fact, I remember how great you looked all the time, whatever you were doing, whether you were walking or talking or sharing a pizza. It was like you weren't just going together, you went together. There was a kind of harmony between you. Everybody who knew you felt that. And you two felt it most of all. - It was the kind of thing that happens between people just once, in a lifetime maybe, if they're lucky. You have to remember that."

  "Being together was special," Iola II agreed dreamily, looking into Joe's eyes. "I did love you so..."

  "Why don't you give me that gun, Iola, before it goes off by accident," Joe said, extending his hand.

  Iola II drew back. The gun, which had been drooping in her hand, steadied. "No, I can't. I'm supposed to - "

  "Forget about that," Joe said. "I know you've got a conscience. Remember who you are, Iola. Remember who I am. Remember what we mean to each other." "But I'm not - " Iola II began. .

  "How can you say that when you remember so clearly who you are, and how in love you and Joe were?" asked Frank.

  "Right, remember all those times. All that love." Joe extended his hand again.

  "But ... I ... " Iola II's voice, which had sounded confused, grew strong again. "But I. do remember. How can I forget?"

  She held the gun out to Joe; and as Joe closed his hand around the cold steel of the barrel and drew the weapon out of Iola II's unresisting hand; he felt a chill run through him.

  It was as if Iola's love had come back from the grave to save him.

  It was as if he stood in the presence of Iola's ghost. Except that the girl in front of him was no ghost. She was very real and once again was very confused, not knowing who she was or what she was supposed to do. All she knew for sure was that the memories inside of her would not let her kill the boy she loved so much.

  Joe and Frank exchanged glances.

  "Those Lazarus people did quite a job," said Frank.

  "Lucky thing they did," agreed Joe.

  "I'd love to see the expressions on their faces when they find out how successful they were in planting all those memories," Frank went on.

  "Maybe we'll get that chance," said Joe. "Maybe the Network will let us be in on the operation when they close in on the Lazarus group in Canada. Believe me; I'm going to ask for that favor."

  "But first we have to get out of here fast, Before anyone gets suspicious about Iola not showing up," said Frank.

  "You mean, Iola Two not showing up," Joe corrected him. He took the girl's arm and said, "Come on, Iola, we have to make a run for it.”

  "Whatever you say, Joe," she replied. "I know I can trust you."

  "More than you can trust Lazarus," said Frank, who was already at the door. "This door is locked."

  "But why-?" Iola II asked, more confused than ever.

  "A better question is how we get out?" said Frank.

  "Yeah," said Joe. "I've got a hunch it'd better be fast."

  Frank examined the lock. "This is an old fashioned model, probably put in by the original owner. There was no reason for Lazarus or the shrink who took over this place to change it, since the room wasn't meant to house patients or prisoners. "

  "We don't have much time," said Joe. "Stand aside, everybody."

  Frank turned to see the Lugar in Joe's hand. He followed orders. .

  "This might be crude, but it'll do the job," Joe said grimly, and blasted away the lock. He gave the door a shove. It swung open. Then he tossed the gun aside and led the others out of the room and into the deserted corridor.

  "They've all gone, everyone but us," said Iola II. "This is so creepy, like a grave."

  "Like a grave," agreed Frank, and then repeated in' a sharper voice, "Like a grave." His tone became one of command. "Come on, let's run for it."

  “What's the hurry?
There's nobody!” Iola II started to ask. But Joe had already grabbed her arm and was pulling her along as she broke into a run, following in his brother's flying footsteps.

  They reached the front door.

  Frank tried it "Good, they didn't bother to lock it," he said, and dashed out.

  "They probably figured Iola wouldn't make it that far," said Joe as he and Iola followed.

  They didn't stop running even when they were outside. They were thirty feet down the front path before they were stopped by a gigantic roar-and by a shock wave that sent them sprawling face forward onto the pebbles.

  They felt a blast of heat on their backs, as lying on their stomachs; they turned to see that the clinic had erupted in a mass of flames.

  "The place exploded like a bomb," said Frank, after checking to see that Joe and Iola II had suffered no injuries other than the minor cuts and bruises that he had. He looked at his watch. Ten minutes had passed since the Lazarus group had left Iola II in the room to dispose of him and Joe.

  "Iola wasn't supposed to leave for five minutes yet."

  "But they still locked the door in case she tried to leave early," said Joe. “Just like them."

  "Typical," agreed Frank. "They always have a back-up plan."

  "They wanted to kill me?" Iola II asked dazedly.

  "They didn't need you anymore," replied Joe.

  Iola II looked with horror at the sea of raging flames. Then her face hardened. "Those rats" "Let's not get mad," said Joe. "Let's get even.”

  "Right," said Frank. "We'll find a telephone and try to contact the Network. We've blown the cover off the Lazarus criminals, and now, no matter how far they go, there'll be no place for them to hide." "Are you in good enough shape to run a couple of miles?" Joe asked Iola II.

  "I always could keep up with you," she answered, "or don’t you remember?" Joe looked at her, a lump forming in his throat.

  "I remember," he managed to say. .

  "Then let's do it," said Frank, and the three of them started running in easy strides. They ran through the front gate that had been left open by the fleeing Lazarus group and down the overgrown forest trail, dappled with sunlight filtering through the trees.