Max Thump, Rosa, Richard and a third man whom Max had introduced only as Davis, were crowded into the helicopter, the noise battering them into silence. They'd left the private jet at Arviat—there was nowhere for it to land at the Clinic.

Lights marked the landing area beneath them and the 'copter settled on the Clinic roof. The four passengers clambered out beneath the spinning blades, and made a dash for the elevator doors in the turret, Max Thump in the lead. The elevator descended the short distance to the top floor and the doors slid open.

The unexpected sound of gunfire had all four reaching for their weapons. Davis was first out of the lift, fanning his semi-automatic weapon up and down the landing, but there was no-one there. Max Thump made a beeline for the Research Laboratory but before he could enter, they heard the sound of more shots, coming from beneath their feet.

"Find out what's going on below. I'm going to check this floor." Thump issued crisp instructions.

Rosa hesitated for a second, wondering if she should stay here to back him up, but Thump gestured for her to go with the others. He disappeared into the Research Laboratory.

Rosa followed Davis and Richard down the stairs, her weapon gripped tightly in her hand. What the hell was going on here? She couldn't help feeling Max Thump knew a lot more about the activities at Beaumont than he'd let on.

Davis peered around the corner of the stairwell for a minute, then signalled for the others to follow before entering the corridor at a crouching run.

There was a dead man on the floor but Davis passed him with scarcely a glance. Rosa looked down curiously but didn't recognise the face. Was he one of the staff or one of the assailants?

Gun fire spat from the room ahead of them.

Davis advanced, fanning his weapon from side to side until he reached the double doorway. A sign on the wall told them the room was a kitchen. This was evidently the centre of the attack, or siege, or whatever it was. One of the doors lay flat on the floor, riddled with bullet holes while the other still hung precariously from one hinge.

Rosa ran lightly across the open doorway to the other side and peered through the gap left by the hanging door. It was like looking into a war zone.

The first person she saw was dead. There was no question, his head was half blown off. Further away, a trousered leg stuck out from behind an overturned table. She couldn't see the rest from where she stood, but the leg wasn't moving.

The first live man had his back to her. Dressed in the same dark blue trousers and shirt as the dead body, he was crouching down behind a steel cabinet. His gun was pointing forward at a refrigerator which had been pushed out away from the wall. Rosa guessed there was one person at least behind it. They were all caught in a stand-off, except now the cavalry had arrived.

Max Thump appeared suddenly behind her and cleared his throat.

"The game is over, Mr Bond. You are outnumbered, throw out your weapon and come out with your hands up."

"Bond is dead," called out a voice from behind the refrigerator.

"You're lying," said Thump confidently. He'd seen the empty capsule upstairs.

"See for yourself," said the voice. "He's on the floor there right in front of you, by the table."

Thump craned his neck, trying to see. "I don't believe you. Who are you, anyway?"

"My name's Cartwright. Hold your fire, I'm coming out."

A gun slid out along the floor from behind the refrigerator.

"Hold your fire everyone," instructed Thump, curious to see who had held his men at bay. And besides, he really wanted to check for himself whether the body on the floor belonged to Bond.

A tall man with short dark blond hair stepped out from behind the refrigerator, his hands held up above his head. He looked surprisingly relaxed for someone who had just surrendered.

He nodded. "Max Thump, if I'm not mistaken." Then he looked behind Thump to Rosa and Richard. It seemed to Rosa that he did a quick double-take, before he smoothed out his features into a bland smile. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?"

"I don't think so."

Keeping his automatic trained on Cartwright, Thump walked across to the body and turned it over with his foot. "My apologies. You're right. He's dead." He stepped back a couple of paces. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Cartwright... Bill Cartwright. I work for Her Majesty's government."

"I see," said Thump. "A colleague of the late Mr Bond, I imagine. Rosa, take care of Mr Cartwright, will you?"

Rosa took the handcuffs Thump was holding out to her and secured Cartwright's hands behind his back. Then she returned to her position behind Thump's right shoulder.

"Can I just clarify one thing?" asked Cartwright, unmoving. "This cloning program—who is it aimed at? The Prime Minister?"

Thump looked surprised. "Oh no, someone much more important than that. My brother."

"Ronald Thump?" Cartwright raised both eyebrows.

"He, or rather his clone, will make a will leaving everything to me. I'm fed up with taking what he chooses to dole out to me, and besides, I've got much more interesting ideas of how to expand our business."

"And then, an 'unfortunate accident', I presume?"

"Exactly. The clone will have a hitherto undetected heart defect and die before the end of the year. So sad."

"As a matter of interest, I found your room of used body parts," said Cartwright conversationally. "All your failed experiments. Can I ask how many succeeded?"

Thump smiled. "It's true it took longer than I hoped, but Ronald Two is the tenth live and complete clone. We had a few teething problems with the earlier models but the last few have been very successful, if rather unexpected in some cases."

"What are you going to do with them all? Once you've replaced your brother?"

"They'll be eliminated, of course. I can't risk one of them being discovered. Though, I might consider resurrecting the program after Ron has his heart attack. I can see the potential for some very interesting experiments." He chuckled.

Cartwright refused to be sidetracked. "Eliminated. Right." He paused. "Does that include the clone on your team?"

For the first time, a flash of concern crossed Thump's face.

"I don't know what you mean, Mr Cartwright."

"You've got a clone standing there right next to you, if I'm not mistaken."

Clone? At first Rosa didn't understand. Then she saw Richard staring at her in shock, his face one big question mark.

A clone. Suddenly her lack of memory made horrifying sense. She looked at Thump, hoping uselessly for a denial, but he refused to meet her gaze.

Cartwright was still talking. "In fact, I know exactly who you cloned her from. Black hair, blue-grey eyes—the resemblance is uncanny."

He looked directly at Rosa. "I think you have a choice now. You can either be one of Thump's henchmen for the short life he allows you, or... you can come with me and take your place in Her Majesty's Secret Service."

Rosa couldn't help herself. She looked down at the body on the floor near the table. Thump had turned it over so that it was lying on its back. Her own face stared blindly back at her, a more rugged, male version to be sure, but her own face nevertheless.

Thump took a syringe out of his pocket which he had brought down from the lab upstairs. "I think we've heard enough from you, Cartwright. In a minute, Davis will take you outside and leave you in the snow, you'll be dead by morning. A tragic accident, so much neater than a bullet. Hold him steady, Rosa."

Rosa looked from Cartwright's steady gaze to Thump's features, flushed with effort as he tried to bend her to his will. She had less than a second to make her decision. Which would she choose?

She brought her gun up against Thump's back. "I don't think so. Drop your weapons, everyone, or Thump dies."

"Good call—sister," said the original James Bond as he stepped out from behind the refrigerator, Walther PPK in hand. "That's my other clone on the floor there. Cartwright wasn't sure which of us was the real Bond, so he tried to spring both of us. Unfortunately that James wasn't as fast on the draw."

"Think, Rosa!" pleaded Thump. "You're making a big mistake. Side with me and I can offer you riches, a life you've never dreamed of. Ten million dollars, direct to a Swiss bank account."

Rosa didn't move. Richard and Davis reluctantly lowered their weapons.

James Bond, her clone brother, spoke again, his face breaking into a smile.

"You've got that wrong, Thump. Her name isn't Rosa." He paused. "It's Bond, Jane Bond."

~~~

(This is the end of Tabula Rasa, the next story, Agents, begins on the next page)