Free Cloneward Bound by M.E. Castle Page B

street. They were closing in on Two.

CHAPTER 10
    “You saved us! How ever can we repay you? … Would you like some corn?”
    —Spec script for
Out of the Flying Pan
    “This thing is heavier than a bowling ball,” Amanda said, hefting the briefcase full of contract paperwork. “What was she asking you to do, sign away your soul?”
    “I’m sure there’s a section called ‘Soul Rights and Percentages’ somewhere in there,” Fisher said as they walked down the sidewalk toward the bus stop. “Where did you
get
all of that stuff, anyway?” He gestured to her getup.
    “Found it,” Amanda said, looking straight ahead, the immense aviators sliding up and down her nose with every wobbly step. She was obviously not used to walking in heels.
    “You just found it,” Fisher said disbelievingly, crouching down to work FP’s disguise back into place. The pig, thankfully, was sleepy after his meal in GG’s office and didn’t put up too much of a fight.
    “Yep.”
    Fisher hoisted FP in his arms and fell into step againnext to Amanda. FP settled into the blanket, curling up in Fisher’s arms, while the evil-looking headgear pinned his ears back and obscured most of his face.
    “Well, thanks for covering me. So. We know Two lives somewhere on Melrose. What now?”
    “Two is starting to attract attention,” Amanda said. “I say we hit the street from one side of LA to the other. With any luck, we’ll be led straight to him by a crowd of goggling fans.”
    Fisher noticed that Amanda choked slightly on the words “goggling fans,” but he decided not to comment on it. The idea made him want to choke, too. Besides, he thought it more likely that wherever Two was staying, they would find a bunch of spicy sauce–fueled rockets shooting off the roof. His clone obviously did not know the meaning of the words
low profile
.
    FP began to snore and then to shiver. He urgently shook his left foreleg, and Fisher suspected that the canine master-of-disguise, Molly, was already giving him nightmares.
    As McGee’s granite slab of a building fell away behind them, Fisher and Amanda passed a huge glass-walled building constructed in a giant pyramid shape. Fisher felt a cold shudder work its way down his spine. He couldn’t help but think of the TechX Enterprises building; it, too, had been built like a towering pyramid. He had verynearly died in the cold, concrete depths of TechX, and he still had nightmares about racing down endless steel corridors being pursued by bizarre and twisted robot creations.
    Just then, a freckly teenager bumped into him, shaking him from his reverie. The Styrofoam coffee cups the teen had been carrying toppled to the ground, splashing coffee all over the pavement.
    “Hey,” the kid said, brushing his moppish red hair out of his eyes. “Watch where you’re—whoa.” He turned back to face the doors of the pyramid building. “Hey, did you hire a stunt double or something?” he shouted.
    Fisher turned to follow the redhead’s gaze. For a second, he froze. Amanda froze next to him.
    Walking out of the building, strutting like an astronaut who’d just gotten back from Mars in time to front a rock band, was Two. He was wearing a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows and a well-fitted pair of black, boot-cut jeans. Like everyone else’s in this city, his eyes were hidden behind a pair of slick, black sunglasses.
    When he saw Fisher, he lowered the shades and smiled broadly.
    “Brother!” he called cheerily, striding over to where Fisher and Amanda were standing. He clapped the redhead on the shoulder. “Alex, this is my twin, Fisher.Fisher, this is my personal assistant and protégé, Alex Barnaby.”
    “Oh, hello,” Alex said, shaking Fisher’s hand before bending down and trying to recover the coffee cups.
    “Two,” Fisher croaked. Adrenaline was building like liquid fire in his veins. He thought he’d have to turn Los Angeles inside out to find his clone, and