Project Cain (40 page)

He checked the FBI feed again for any new crimes, made some unproductive notes, and then rummaged back through the images of Jacobson’s journals for another hour before his phone rang as promised. He rushed for the door.

“Hey,” Castillo said, stepping outside quietly. It was surprisingly warm, the day’s heat still lurking on the night’s breeze. He surveyed the mostly vacant lot. His perusal widened to the traffic on the bordering
streets, no direction seeming any more promising than another beneath the reddened moon. “Thanks for getting back so—”

“I’ve looked at the files you sent,” she said. Paused.

“Thanks, I . . .” Too many thoughts folded in on him again, and nothing he could say to her. He cast his eyes back to the ground. “What can you tell me?”

There was another pause. Enough that he knew she was still deciding if she should lecture him, hang up, or just give him the info he’d asked for and continue on with her life. “How much of the situation
can
you share?” she asked, choosing Option Three. “Any?”

“Just know I gotta find these guys.”

“OK, look: All six are classic loners, with documented sociopathic tendencies ranging from just-above common all the way to full-blown psychopathic monster. Three are lacking almost every benchmark of ordinary human social development. And some of these numbers, to be honest, don’t even make sense to me. How well do you understand the terms?”

“
Sociopath
?
Psycho
? Assumed they were the same thing.”

“They’re similar but different disorders, especially in the way they manifest. Which could help you know what to look for. Even though they’re always lumped together, you should probably understand the two beyond some vague
Webster’s
definition before you go much further.”

“It’s why I called you.” He’d found the outside stairs leading to the motel’s second and top floor. He took them unhurriedly, stretching his legs, relishing the feeling of warm air against his skin. Yet somehow still cramped, chilled. Nervous.

“All right. About one half of one percent of Americans could be
diagnosed as sociopaths or psychopaths. So says the National Institute of Mental Health.”

“Two million psycho killers?”

She laughed softly, the sound tender and familiar. “Not at all. There are degrees to everything. Ninety-eight percent of that two million are only sociopaths, and most sociopaths are little more than flaming assholes.”

“Skip the technical jargon, please.”

“Guys with no regard for the feelings and rights of others. Care only about Number One, steal for the hell of it, moody guys who screw over coworkers, start bar fights out of boredom, won’t talk to their kids . . . that kind of thing. True psychopaths are much, much rarer. The difference is important, and also horrible.”

“Go on.”

“First how they’re the same. They both manipulate to get what they desire with no true sense of right or wrong. See people as targets, opportunities, and believe the cliché that the end always justifies the means. And so lie with almost every breath. And steal. And sometimes even rape or kill. Both are unable to empathize with their victims’ pain, and even hold
contempt
for their victims’ distress. Oblivious to the devastation they cause, lacking remorse, shame. Both usually surface by age fifteen; often cruel to animals, have an inflated sense of self, no awareness of personal boundaries. Feel entitled, spoiled. Shallow emotions, incapacity for love. Need stimulation and enjoy living on the edge, and believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, and warranted in every wish. Both carry a deep rage.”

“Copy. How different?”

“Sociopaths have a life history of behavioral and academic difficulties.
They’re less organized; they struggle in school and work. They’ll often appear nervous and easily agitated. They act spontaneously in inappropriate ways without thinking through the consequences. So, they typically live on the fringes of society, without solid or consistent economic support. They have problems making friends, keeping jobs, tend to move around a lot. Since they disregard most rules and social mores, their crimes are typically spontaneous because they don’t give one damn
and
don’t care if you know it. The prisons are filled with these guys. Most of us would not be comfortable with a sociopath in the room. You would totally know he was there.”

“But not so Mr. Psychopath.”

“You got it. Mr. Psychopath, as you say, is extremely organized, secretive, and manipulative. While he also has no regard for society’s rules, he
understands
them. He’s studied them for years like it’s a job, and he can mimic the right behaviors to make himself
appear
normal, even charismatic and charming. He’s often well educated, can maintain a family and steady work. He’s learned The Game, and he’s playing it to win using our own rules against us. You would be comfortable with a psychopath in the room because you would never know he was even there.”

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2013 by Geoffrey Girard

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Girard, Geoffrey.

Project Cain / Geoffrey Girard. — First edition.

pages cm

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Jeff Jacobson learns that not only was he cloned from infamous serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer’s blood as part of a top-secret government experiment, but there are other clones like him and he is the only one who can track them down before it is too late.

ISBN 978-1-4424-7696-7 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4424-7701-8 (eBook)

[1. Murder—Fiction. 2. Serial murderers—Fiction. 3. Biological weapons—Fiction. 4. Cloning—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.G43948Pro 2013

[Fic]—dc23

2013002672

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Six

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Forty

Chapter Forty-One

Chapter Forty-Two

Chapter Forty-Three

Acknowledgments

‘Cain’s Blood’
Excerpts

About Geoffrey Girard