The Clone Apocalypse Read Online Free Page A

teeth.
    Watson loaded Tasman on his back and trotted down the stairs, Emily at his heels. They reached the street a moment after Rhodes had passed by the building.
    Watson ducked back in the building and ran through a hallway, still carrying Tasman on his back. The hall led to a narrow alley with a Dumpster and crates and drunks. Rhodes strolled past as they moved down the alley.
    Watson lowered Tasman to the ground and hid behind the Dumpster while the old crippled scientist shouted, “Rhodes! Hey, Rhodes, is that you?”
    Rhodes stopped and paused as if he recognized Tasman’s raspy voice. He turned to look in the alley and saw the old scientist sitting against the wall like a vagrant. Tasman wore an old suit that might have been nice one month earlier but had now been worn into oblivion.
    Sounding confused, Rhodes said, “I know you.”
    “Damn straight you do, genius,” said Tasman.
    “You’re Howard Tasman,” said Rhodes.
    Tasman said, “Can you give me a ride back to Washington?”
    Smiling like a teen in a brothel, Rhodes stepped into the alley, and said, “Howard Tasman . . . Oh, I’ll get you to Washington.”
    Watson had choreographed the fight in his head. With a few small variations, it went as he had expected.
    Rhodes started to pull his gun from his holster as he stepped past the Dumpster. From where he hid, Watson couldn’t see the gun, only the briefcase. Thinking that the luggage was Rhodes’s most dangerous weapon, Watson sprang from his hiding place and grabbed the case. He caught Rhodes unaware, wrestled the case free, then swung Rhodes face-first into the side of the Dumpster. Seizing on his momentum, Watson slammed a fist into Rhodes’s jaw, nearly knocking him out. As he fell, Watson slammed a knee into his groin, flattening his left testicle.
    Kevin Rhodes dropped to one knee, then fell to the concrete.
    Emily looked at Rhodes, then at Watson, and said, “Baby, I’m impressed.”
    Hoping he hadn’t just mugged an innocent man, Watson carried Rhodes into the building. Emily dragged Tasman in behind him.
    *   *   *
    If
Magellan
had surfaced a few days earlier, or if Watson had bagged Rhodes the week before, the Enlisted Man’s Empire might have won the war.

PART I
    THE CONQUERORS

CHAPTER
    ONE
    Location: Washington, D.C.
Date: August 16, 2519
    I was the seniormost officer in the EME military, technically I had four stars on my collar though I preferred not to wear them—General Wayson Harris, commander in chief and president extraordinaire. I may have qualified for the title of “emperor” as well. As I understood it, emperors ran empires, not presidents or generals. It really didn’t matter. Our hold on humanity was temporary at best.
    We were a nation of clones. The end of our rule was built into our DNA. Well, sterility was built into our DNA, and since we didn’t have factories for building the next generation of clones, we were a nonrenewable empire.
    One title I didn’t mind too much carrying was “commandant of the Marines.” I had agreed to accept that title. I had never agreed to be the president of the Enlisted Man’s Empire. In fact, I had never actually been coronated . . . I suppose the term is “inaugurated.” I had been missing in action when the admiral who was in charge was murdered. I may have been next in line, but I was missing, so the brass selected Travis Watson to run the empire until I was found or declared dead.
    Now that I was back, I didn’t want the job.
    “I don’t see that Watson matters one way or the other, Harris,” said General John Strait, commander of the Enlisted Man’s Air Force.
    I said, “He’s the president of the empire.”
    Thomas Hauser, commander of the EME Navy, corrected me. He said, “Watson was a temporary president.”
    We were having a summit. I was one of four people invited to participate. I represented the Marines. Our fourth was General Pernell MacAvoy, commanding officer of the EME Army and the only