Betrayed by Francine Pascal Page B

her?”
    â€œIt’s not what he’s done,” he replied. “It’s what he’s going to do.”
    â€œWhere is she?” Tom growled.
    â€œWhy don’t you ask your buddy George?” he said with a grin. “Or no, I have a better idea. Why don’t we have another race, Tom? Let’s see who gets to her first. No, I’m kidding. I think we know who’s going to get to her first.”
    Tom couldn’t take another word of his taunting. He lunged forward for the boy’s legs, but with one swift step back, the boy had Tom grabbing at nothing. Tom could only watch through the iron slats of the fire escape as the boy took off down the steps, heading for the back exit of the building.
    â€œReady, set, go, Tom,” his voice echoed through the dark windy lot. “Last one to Gaia is a rotten egg….”
    Tom smashed his hand against the cold iron and sat back against the steps to catch his breath. It was too much information. It was too much horrible information…yet no information at all. Where was Gaia? What on earth was going to happen tomorrow at ten o’ clock? And what did George know about it?
    George … my oldest “friend” in the world.
    Tom winced at his own sarcasm.
    You son of a bitch, George. You traitor. You and I need to talk. It’s a talk I’ve been anxiously awaiting ever since I got my first punch in that torture chamber in the Caymans. And you had better have some answers, George. Gaia’s life depends on it.
    Memo
    From: QR2
    To: L
    1. Difficulties with phase 1 of Operation Clean Slate. Unexpected skill level for T. Not as easy a mark as expected. Have extricated self from situation. Will need backup to complete this step of OCS.
    2. Urgent: Enigma and N have resurfaced. Repeat: Enigma and N have resurfaced. Retreat was necessary. Please advise.

Infestation
    LOKI REREAD THE MEMO AT LEAST three times, his frustration increasing with each read. He could not believe that he was still dealing with a living, breathing brother. He could not fathom his organization’s pathetic inability to dispose of Tom and Natasha in the Cayman Islands, after all their concerted efforts. And once again he was compelled to take the blame.
    The only feasible explanation for Tom’s survival in the Caymans was that Loki had not yet injected himself with the phobosan. He simply had not been as enlightened as he was now—still too attached to his ego-induced fears and anxieties. If Tom wasn’t gone, that could only be because, on some deep and tragically weak subconscious level, Loki had not been truly ready for him to go. Some useless leftover “inner child” must have been afraid to let him go. But that was just fearful emotional trash left over from when they were little children. Now he was more than ready to say good-bye. God knew he was ready now.
    And how could he have underestimated Gaia’s young accomplice so completely? What match could that Tatiana girl have possibly been for QR2? How had a complete innocent put up a fight against a qualified replicant with Loki’s own personal training and Josh Kendall’s supremely conditioned physique?
    It had to be Tom. Tom and his usual dumb, ignorant luck. Tom and Natasha must have arrived at that apartment just in time and taken on QR2 together. That was the only feasible explanation. Tom. Always Tom, biting pathetic little holes in Loki’s progress, like a nagging infestation. Nothing but a living, breathing obstacle. Year after year, making it his life’s goal to keep Loki’s happiness to the bare minimum…
    Loki’s clenched fist suddenly came pounding down on the foldout table he was using for a desk. He assaulted the table with such an inhuman amount of force that his punch actually left a crack all the way down the center, nearly splitting the entire table in two. His violent gesture had taken him by complete surprise, as had the degree of