Last Days (Last Days Trilogy #1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

Are you gonna stop?”
    “Well...”
    “I didn’t think so. So tell me. Please?”
    “It’s done,” Marcus stated. “It went well. We acquired enough. Or at least I think we did. Now, the Shroud goes back to the Vatican. Then we isolate the DNA, recreate the nucleus, and implant it into the shelled-out ovum when we get to Chicago.”
    “Thus beginning the asexual fertilization.”
    “Cloning process,” Marcus corrected.
    “Do you think it’ll work?”
    “I don’t think it’ll take three hundred attempts like the first one. But, after a few failures, yes,” Marcus stated. “It will work. I don’t expect any problems with the in-vitro generation or the implantation into the surrogate mother.”
    “See now, that’s what I don’t get,” Reggie said.
    “What’s that?” Marcus asked, his hands fiddling with the phone cord.
    “The world is uptight about what? A baby. An innocent baby who will have the same genetic makeup as... well, Christ. If, you know, the stories are true.” She paused. “All right. I see why they might be a little irate. Marcus...” Reggie’s voice softened. “...leave Marcus the scientist behind for a second. What did you think when you saw it so close?”
    “Well... I saw the image of a man who died a horrendous death. Tortured to the point that there was enough blood to soak an image on a cloth. It was very moving. It made me grieve for him, whoever he was.”
    “Do you believe it was Jesus?”
    “Hopefully, after some tests, I’ll have a better idea, at least for my own knowledge. We took a lot of photos and samples and...”
    “I thought you were only cloning.”
    “Reg, please,” Marcus chuckled. “I have the Shroud of Turin for forty-eight hours and you think I’ll let it go without answering the things I’ve always wondered?”
    “I guess not.” Reggie took a long, deep breath. “My prayers are with you, Marcus.”
    “Reg, don’t you think that’s a little sacrilegious considering...?”
    “No. There’s nothing sacrilegious about praying for someone you care about. And I’m praying for you.”
    “Then in that case,” Marcus sighed, “keep ‘em coming. I need someone to watch out for me. I have the feeling that today was only the beginning.”

CHAPTER FOUR
Wadsworth, Ohio
     
    Sporting his best pair of Levis and a maroon button-down shirt, Herbie Wallaby looked good. His hair was cut and combed, and for a man of his size, he moved with grace and confidence on the dance floor. But none of that mattered to Reggie. The best she could muster in response was feigned enthusiasm. She’d tried repeatedly to get out of the date, but her father deftly countered each attempt. Menstrual cramps? Take a Midol. A special wrestling pay-per-view is on? Record it. Reggie saw what she was up against and finally gave in.
    Pretending to enjoy the dance, Reggie’s eyes were glued to the wrestling match that played on all ten televisions in the bar. Reggie loved wresting. In particular, she had a thing for Mr. Big and Hot, the seven-foot glory with a hulking body. Every Monday and Thursday she waited patiently with Seth, watching for the towering, long-haired wrestling God. Reggie wasn’t about to pass up a match with Big and Hot for a dance with Slow and Not. That was why she chose Harland’s Bar and Grill, it always had the pay-per-view extravaganzas.
    “Enjoying the dance, huh?” Herbie asked, a wide grin dawning his round face.
    “Huh?” Reggie said, shifting her eyes to Herbie and back to the television. “Yeah. Yeah, I sure am,” she suspected that Herbie had mistaken her soft moan at the sight of Big & Hot’s bare chest as an assessment of Herbie’s slow dancing.
    “Don’t you dance much?” Herbie asked.
    “No.” Reggie said, her concentration on the television.
    “But you like to dance?”
    “Yes.”
    “You like being close?”
    Reggie cringed, Big and Hot took an elbow shot that knocked him off his feet. “No.”
    “You don’t?” Herbie