Betrayed Read Online Free Page A

evidence clearly made them uncomfortable.
    â€œBut much more importantly,” he went on, “I want to apologize to all of you for…well, for making a mess of things, really.”
    Now his audience looked downright shocked. “You can all stop gawking now,”he said, smiling. “It’s true. I have made a mess. And I’m quite sure that more than a few of you have whispered as much behind my back. The truth is, I’ve been wasting so much of our time pining for Gaia’s love and affection when in fact, all we ever really needed…was her blood. So, from this point on, I assure you, blood is the only thing we are out for.”
    The silence in the room was deafening. His unusual degree of bluntness had apparently left them all speechless. “The logic couldn’t be simpler, really,” he explained. “When one makes a mess, the only solution is to clean it up, and that is why, as of 9 P . M . this evening, Operation Clean Slate will commence. We have finally found success with phobosan II, but the road to that success has been littered with witnesses and enemies, and that simply won’t do. All of them will need to be cleaned out within the next forty-eight hours. That is our deadline. Once the last of the mess has been wiped up, we’ll be leaving this filthy city for quite some time and moving on to far greater things. Now, thankfully, some of the mess has already been taken care of—George Niven, Josh Kendall—”
    â€œWhat?” QR1 blurted, shooting up from his flimsy folding chair. “What are you talking about? What did you do to Josh?”
    Loki turned to QR1 and locked eyes with him. He had no time for attitude. “I just told you what happened,” he explained calmly, staring QR1 into submission. “Your ‘brother,’ Mr. Kendall, has been cleaned. He attempted to betray me, not to mention everyone else who has worked so hard on the serum. If he had succeeded in administering the counteragent to our first test subject, Ms. Gannis, we might never have completed the testing of phobosan I. His betrayal left me with no choice but to terminate. Do you have a problem with that?”
    Silence filled the dimly lit room again. The one stark bulb suddenly seemed to cast an interrogation like light on QR1 as Loki watched this carbon copy of a young man have a most unexpectedly emotional reaction to Josh’s death. There seemed to be a genuine sense of loss in his usually inhuman neon blue eyes. Loss, and sadness, and even a tinge of deep resentment as he and Loki stayed locked in a visual showdown.
    Loki was of course being facetious when he referred to Josh as QR1’s ‘brother .’ A clone couldn’t truly have a brother. How could he have a brother if he didn’t even have a mother? This was what made QR1’s reaction all the more curious. But now was not the time for curious . There would be plenty of time for curious once this operation was complete.
    â€œI just don’t see…,” QR1 began. “I don’t see why you had to kill—”
    â€œBefore you answer,” Loki interrupted coldly, “I suggest you take a look at QR2 and try to emulate his behavior.” QR2 was still sitting quietly in his chair, indicating no emotion whatsoever. “Is that clear? Now, are you going to sit down…or are you going to add to the mess?”
    Loki reached inside his coat and wrapped his hand tightly around the handle of his nine-millimeter automatic, hoping to speed up QR1’s reply by simplifying his options. But there was no need to even remove the gun from its holster.
    â€œI…I’m sorry, sir,” QR1 uttered quietly, dropping back down into his chair and wiping any traces of emotion from his face.
    Loki waited one more discomforting beat before removing his hand from the gun.
    â€œFine,” he said finally, scanning the room for any further dissidence. “Then