The Clone Problem by Kenneth Preston

Author:Kenneth Preston [Preston, Kenneth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-02T16:00:00+00:00

19

Jack

Love is complicated. And it’s just become a bit more complicated. I loved Angela in my first incarnation. I was madly, head over heels in love with her. So what happened between then and now? Where did the love go? Was it lost in transition?

Or has it always been there? Yes, I love Angela, as I love Danny. But I’m not in love with her. At least, I don’t think I am. But how would I know? I’m forty-seven-years-old, and I’ve never known that kind of love. I’ve never witnessed it.

I guess it’s for the best that I’m not doing this, not getting wrapped up in the complexities of love―not now. This is not a love story; it’s a death story. Or a fight for survival story. And Danny, Angela and I have a hell of a lot of fighting to do.

I didn’t have to ask them; Angela and Danny insisted on accompanying me to L.A. Angela is requisitioning a car. She’s the colonel. She has that kind of power. The army would never let me requisition a vehicle without official clearance. That would mean an explanation. That would mean that Nash would find out that I’m leaving on what he would surely consider a foolhardy mission. I really don’t want to have to explain this to him, and I don’t want to lie. I’m not very good at lying, especially to General Howard Nash.

The big trick, of course, is sneaking Danny off base without anybody seeing him. He’s supposed to be dead after all. So we have to sneak him from Cochran’s private tech department and down to the garage in the middle of the night. There are very few guards posted in the base corridors overnight and none in the corridor between the tech department and the garage. The garage is closed overnight, nobody on duty. The plan is for Danny and I to snuggle in the trunk of the car for the ride off base. It’s not the most appealing plan, but it’ll have to do.

I’m in my quarters with my duffel bag packed and ready to go.

A knock at the door. It’s the general. I don’t have to open the door to know it. It’s that weird, genetically-engineered Clone intuition. Either that or I just know his knock. But that weird, genetically-engineered Clone intuition tells me that something is up, that the general is on to me, that somebody’s tipped him off.

I open the door. Sure enough.

“General.”

He enters. “Jack.”

I close the door behind him. “Is everything okay?”

I forgot to hide the duffel bag. Shit!

“Going somewhere?” He turns to face me, hands behind his back.

“I’m taking a trip down the coast, a little R and R.”

He narrows his eyes. He’s not buying it, but of course he’s not buying it. I’m a terrible liar, and the general has the same weird, genetically-engineered Clone intuition that I have.

“So...a little R and R,” he says, his voice dripping with skepticism. “Danny just died, and you’re going to L.A. for a little R and R.

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