Prompt 

Include in the Writing: 

Prompt #1: Your protagonist wakes up in a room with 2 other people who look exactly like him/her and has no idea where he/she is or how he/she got there. Who are the others? How did everyone get there? What happens next ? 

#2 A girl in a Pikachu onesie 

#3 The story must include the sentence - “What I really want is a piece of cherry pie ” 

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Part 1 

“Damn, my head,” Orlando was just coming to his senses. The last he remembered was being hit hard on the head. His head and body were restrained so he could see nothing but the ceiling. He was finding it difficult to keep his eyes open because of the lights reflecting off the ceiling. Maybe, that was by design.  

“Anybody there? Hello?” 

There was no response. In his past role, if such a situation of capture did arise, he had a cyanide capsule under one of his nails to be immediately ingested. That was the only way to keep the secret. It was surgically removed once the role ended, so Orlando couldn’t quite place why he would be captured now.  

“Uhmm.. Hmm..”  

“Hello, who’s that?” Orlando called out having heard another voice.

“Ben,” the voice sounded groggy. 

“Ben who?”  

“Who the hell are you asking me so many questions?” Ben sounded upset. Maybe he was hit too, Orlando thought. 

“I am Orlando. I am tied to my bed. Are you restrained too, Ben?” 

“Oh, so that makes the two of us.” 

“Make that three,” a third voice pitched in, “what’s happening here? Why are we restrained?” 

“I couldn’t figure that out for the whole of the three minutes that I have been awake,” Orlando quipped, “so who are you, buddy? The person other than Ben, that is.”

“Arthur.” 

“Anybody else other than Orlando, Ben, and Arthur?” There was no response. “Now how do we get to know each other? We can’t even see the other.” 

“Or for that matter anyone else who could be here.” Ben added. Orlando heard a snap and then two quick ones followed. Again a snap followed by two quick ones. Then his neck restraint came off and the ones on his hands and legs too. Now he knew what those snaps meant. 

He struggled to sit up and then instinctively looked around. Then the horror of Orlando, Ben and Arthur hit him like a ton of bricks.

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Part 2 

“How did they find us?” Arthur was still coming to terms with what had happened.  

“Why did they get us? We are no of use to them. Trump is the President.” Ben said.  

It was a known fact that the President of the United States (POTUS) had seven look-alikes ready at any point. They were deployed, as required, based on the perceived security threat. 

“No, you’ll are not getting it, did they force you or got you through the beacon route?” Orlando asked. 

“Beacon.” The beacon was a way of calling an active or inactive shadow through an absurd mode; absurd because it would be hardly raising anyone's antennae yet was effective in contacting the shadows. 

“I was at the Casino in Las Vegas and the waitress dressed in a Pikachu onesie passed me twice with the coded pleasantry. I followed her and was flown to Florida. Just don’t remember what happened next,” Ben said.

“Same with me. A girl in a Pikachu onesie at the New York park. I too remember Florida,” Arthur said. 

“So, this is the work of someone who knows the protocol,” Orlando looked pensive, “It can’t be an outsider.” 

“Can be. Taliban, Hamas or IS.” 

“Not likely. First finding the look-alikes is a humongous task. There are hundreds of Obama look-alikes but to get the right ones is complex. In addition, they got our beacon calls right. That changes like every six months when the President is in power. So, they knew our last beacon call correctly when President Obama stepped down. That can’t be an outsider.” 

“Even if it is an insider why the ex-POTUS look-alikes? Why not President Trump’s look-alikes?” Ben asked what was obvious. 

“And why only the three of us? Why not the others?”

Just then they heard the door open. A lady entered. Gentlemen this way, please.  

“Who are you?” Arthur walked towards the lady. Few more men entered the room and one of them injected something in his neck. The other two had the same experience and wound up on the floor. 

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Part 3

“Oh my God, where am I now?” Orlando woke up once again looking at a white ceiling. 

“Honey, you are alright. Oh, thank God!” Rebeca was relieved to see Orlando awake. "What happened?" 

“How did I get here?” 

“I got a call from the hospital. That’s how I came.” 

“Ah..” Orlando could not figure out things. For a moment it seemed like they were captured by terrorists and the next moment they were returned safely. In fact, they were left at the hospital. It just didn’t add up. “Who left me here you said?” 

“Don’t know. The hospital also doesn’t know.” 

“Hmm.. I feel fine now. Let’s go home then.”  

“Okay. Just wait for the IVR.”

“Hm.” Orlando was confused. He wanted to speak to Ben and Arthur but then he did not know where they were. That was protocol. Each POTUS shadow was working independently. None knew about the other. It was a failsafe so that they didn’t start meeting after their tenures and discuss state secrets; lest they risk opening up to prying ears. That further bolstered the theory that it was an insider’s work. 

Orlando remembered Ben mentioning Las Vegas but that may or may not be his home state. Though Arthur from New York was quite possible. The question was if he should go searching for Arthur or inform the White House about this. He decided on the latter.

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Part 4

The secure line was cut long back, so Orlando had to do it from his mobile. A risky proposition and the one he knew would not go well with the powers at the helm of affairs. 

“Orl, Alpha, 09, 17, Bama,” Orlando spoke out the secret tag name. The tag was for identifying the shadow. First being his name in short, second signifying that he was the designated first look-alike of the President, third the year the President came to power, fourth being the current year or the year the President stepped down, and last being the last four letters of the President’s name.  

CIA Headquarters 

“Hold the line. Moving to secure net.” 

“Orlando?”

“Yes, mam. That would be me.” 

“Okay, say no more. Meeting at D.C. You know the drill.”  

“Yes, mam. I will be there.”  

Protocol expected that the calling look-alike should be present in Langley, CIA, Virginia Headquarters, within eighteen hours of the call. D.C. was just a diversion to throw away any unintended listener off the track. This was usually done when called from a non-secured line. Orlando was already in Virginia and walked into the headquarters. 

Soon, Orlando was taken to a conference room. He was made to sit and the Director, Gina Haspel, was expected to join soon. Orlando could hardly quieten his mind. It was still racing to find the motive behind all that happened. All the look-alikes were trained by the CIA for obvious reasons and were expected to think like the Intelligence team. So, not being able to figure out was hitting Orlando’s pride a bit. His calm countenance was betrayed by his fingers playing on the desk. 

“Orlando.”

“Madam Director,” Orlando shook hands with Ms. Gina. She was accompanied by two more members.  

“Mam, I would like to speak to you alone.” 

“Don’t mind Carl and Hughes. Whatever you discuss with me goes to them either way. I can trust them.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Mr. Orlando, it is quite unusual for an ex-POTUS shadow to be getting in touch with us.” 

“It’s regarding that precise thing, mam. Three days back I was called in through the beacon route. We, obviously, had to respond but only to find ourselves taken captives.” 

“Who’s we?” 

“It was not just me but Ben and Arthur too.” The gasp in the room was apparent since shadows knowing each other was unheard of. 

“We didn’t authorize a “call-in”. Carl, can you check?"

“Yes, mam.” 

As Carl left the room, the Director was speaking in a hushed tone with Hughes. She then walked towards Orlando, “you know that I am quite new to this place in this role but I am no newbie to this field. Call-ins are only in extreme threat perception scenarios. The last it happened was when President Franklin Roosevelt changed hands with President Truman in 1945. That is before President Franklin passed away in 1945. The only reason for that was the World War 2. Never has it happened since.” 

“I don’t doubt that. That’s why I am here to report it.” 

“Where did they take you from Florida?” Hughes asked Orlando. 

Orlando started tapping the desk again, “Let me explain from the beginning.” The discussion continued for some time with Carl confirming that there was no “call-in”. 

“So, no discussion at all?” 

“No, mam. We woke up in a room but barely for half an hour. The whole episode though lasted two days long. Our families had nothing to suspect. We told them that we were out on work. Obvious, because of the call-in.”  

“Alright, we will have to investigate this further. You are free to be our guest here.” 

“I would rather return.” 

“Here, take this. This is your secure mobile. Keep this till we get to the bottom of things.” 

Orlando nodded, “Good day, mam!” 

“Good day to you too!”

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Part 5 

It was a week since Orlando touched base with the CIA and there was no action. Orlando wanted to figure out things rather than wait for things to happen. He decided to go to New York and see if he could meet Arthur.  

It wasn’t too difficult. He had to start looking outwards from New York Central Park and hope that Arthur stayed somewhere close. It worked. He did find Arthur but not the way he had expected. 

“What happened?” Orlando asked one of the family members at the funeral. 

“They were out to dinner and he just passed out once home,” the person said, “he used to look a lot like you. I presume you are a friend.”

“Yes, I am.” Orlando’s fears were coming true. For whatever reason, they were not killed earlier, changed once he contacted the CIA. It was obvious from the beginning. This was his mistake and one of them paid the price. It would be just a matter of time before Ben and he met the same fate. 

Orlando called from his secure mobile. “Arthur is dead. You all are in this, aren’t you’ll?” 

“Orlando, wait, Ben is dead too. I don’t think you have much of a chance of surviving out there. Come to Langley,” Gina said. 

“So, that you can kill me easily?” 

“No, Orlando listen…” 

“You listen, Madam Director. I am going to find this dirtbag and you start praying that you are not one of them…” Orlando threw the mobile into a pond and walked off. He knew that he would have been tracked by the CIA already. 

Being with the CIA had taught him a thing or two. Start from the last known point of conflict or from a suspect. The former was out of question so the latter was the only option. It had to be Gina’s team if not Gina herself. Of course, he knew the CIA would also be expecting him. 

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Part 6 

Some things worked well for Orlando. The on-going pressure on the President because of the Russian link kept the CIA on their toes. Which meant there was a chance that they might slip-up on him homing in on them. 

Orlando had done his check on Carl and he appeared clean. Hughes and Gina remained. He caught up with Hughes at the Ritz-Carlton.  

“It was you. It was you all the while and you got the other two killed. You b*****d,” Orlando was pointing a gun at Hughes. 

“What are you talking about? Orlando, right?” 

“No need to act coy. You are busted. All evidence has been handed over to Gina. She is personally going to be here in a few minutes. You think you being here in D.C. at the moment is for work? Well, think again.” Orlando was playing bluff to check if mentioning Gina perturbed Hughes or not. That would decide if he was alone or Gina was with him. 

“I don’t get it. What are you talking about?” with that Hughes lunged at Orlando. Orlando was expecting it and moved back. One kick to the solar plexus sealed the case. He then picked up Hughes and tied him to a chair.  

Then Orlando called Gina.

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Part 7

“How did you know it was him?” the Director asked. 

“I knew it was either him or both of you, but I was not sure about Carl.” 

“Explain.” 

“When I met you the first time, he asked me about Florida. I had said nothing about Florida till then. Besides, his question followed just after speaking with you. So, I was not sure if you were also a part of it.” 

“Hmm… I should have seen that back then itself,” Gina said. 

“I guess, Russia kept you busy back then.” 

“Quite right and for all the wrong reasons. You, my man, start speaking. What is this all about?” 

Hughes was cringing still. “You know it already then why ask?” 

“Don’t force me to get you talking,” Orlando was still pissed at what had happened, “I will be happy to get a free-hand on you.” 

“Try me, sucker,” Hughes retorted back. Orlando stepped up to punch him. 

“Enough,” Gina said and the SWAT members restrained Orlando, “Hughes, the game's over. Even if you don’t confess, it is only a matter of time for me to get to the root of things. Now, speak up and make things easier for yourself.” 

Hughes was staring at the floor for some time but then he started talking, “the shadows, they have a nanochip embedded in their neck. This is not only for tracking them but also to maintain continuity should anything happen to POTUS.” 

“That’s not true. I don’t know anything about such a chip,” Orlando said. Gina put her hand up to let Hughes speak.

“That’s the plan ass. If the shadows knew wouldn’t a rogue one remove it?” 

“But a rogue CIA can,” Gina added. 

“Normally this wouldn’t happen. With every government change, the shadows are brought in and the chips removed and destroyed. However, with the current government, there was a slip-up. Pompeo’s handing over to Gina happened in haste and the removal was missed.” 

“Only you noticed.”

“Yes, and since it seemed to be not coming up, I saw an opportunity. There were only three chips, one each on the top shadows.”

“Top shadows?” 

“You and the other two. You’ll were prioritized based on abilities and CIA training feedback. That’s why your names were changed before deploying you. So, the names will match the letters of the name OBAMA. O for Orlando, B for Ben, A for Arthur, M for Mark and A for Andy,” Gina pitched in. 

“Why the chip? How does it serve you?” Gina asked. 

“You know the answer to that,” Hughes said. 

“Nuclear weapons? Selling it to rogues?” Orlando suggested. 

“I don’t know about you Gina, but I think this guy here is dumb,” Hughes laughed hysterically, “why would I sell nukes to rogues to kill me at home? You seem to be watching too many movies, you shit.”

“You know, I don't need too many provocations at the moment to imprint my knuckles on your face. You may run out of luck." 

“The chips," Gina interrupted, "have details of government accounts, depositories, and other sensitive financial information which in wrong hands could turn back the clock to 1929." 

“You need all three chips?”  

“Yes. All the chips together give the information. This again prevents the risk of losing information if only one or two shadows are compromised. And if we do know one or two are compromised we will move in immediately to secure the third,” Gina said. 

“I told you, you knew everything. Why did you need me to talk?” Hughes appeared peaceful, now that things were known and there was hardly any chance of escape. 

“Last question. Whom did you intend to sell the information to? Is there a buyer?” 

“Yes, there is. Why would I do this otherwise?” 

“Who?”

“Use your common sense people. It had to be a Russian. Isn’t it obvious? With all of us going slow on them even this would be put on the back-burner. Even if we got caught it will point towards just one man.” 

“You are a sick a*****e,” Orlando couldn’t believe that Hughes took the same oath as him to protect the country. 

“Yeah, like I need your certificate,” Hughes' hysterical laughter continued. 

“Take him away,” Gina ordered. She then shook hands with Orlando, “care to join the CIA?” 

“Definitely, no.” For some reason, both laughed.

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Epilogue 

Gina had called Orlando for a meeting in D.C. It was not in the office but at a restaurant. Orlando reached early and waited. Gina arrived with a guest. He shook hands with Orlando. 

“I am impressed. Who would have thought that we had a John Rambo out there looking like me,” Mr. Obama was generous in his appraisal of Orlando. 

“Mr. President, it's an honor to meet you.” 

“I am not the President, you know. Donald is.” 

“Well, he is not my President. I mean, I am not his shadow,” Orlando smiled. 

“I get that I am talking to quite a smart person here.” 

“You are kind, Sir. Sir, is there something that can be done for Ben and Arthur’s families?” 

“It’s already taken care of. They will have nothing wanting.” 

“Thank you, Sir!” 

“My pleasure. So, what would you like to have?” 

“May sound odd but what I really want is a piece of cherry pie.”

“Cherry pie it is. So, tell me…..”  

Orlando was set for a long evening with the man he looked up to. He was glad that this was the man he had taken an oath to protect if need be.   

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This story is written in response to @tygertyger’s Electric Dream contest which can be found here. 

Image Courtesy: Pixabay