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"Aren’t the worst things usually that way?" I asked "So why’s Ryuy? The one we could depend on?"

Rick didn’t say anything He just looked at

"Emily," I whispered "Emily Ryman has retinal KA"

"Which makes her an excellent candidate for an ‘accidental’ death if he stops playing along--and you’re not their first clone Just the first one that really replicates the person you were based on If you’d been alive for the last year, you would have noticed that Emily rarely speaks in public She just stands and smiles Does that sound like the Emily Ryman you know?"

I stared at hiht after the inauguration, and now she and the children are hostages against the president’s good behavior He’s in the saurehead, because even people who believe all politicians are corrupt ren trail--and they remember what happened to Rebecca Ryman They believe in hihed a little, bitterly "I think thisto wind up in power Ryood a puppet to pass up"

"I think I hate the huia Mason we all know and love," said Steve "Now the question is, what are we going to do about it?"

I paused "Youin a room with the Vice President of the United States, a ade EIS scientists, and you expect the clone to make the decisions? See, this is why this country is in trouble all the da it are crazy"

"We just want to know if you’ll help," said Dr Shoji

"And by help, you mean…?"

"Will you do what you did in Sacramento?"

What I did in Sacra and the fact that so him--but we never suspected the CDC, and so ot into power That, and die I knew they were asking ain, to tell it for the the way it felt to know that I was co to an end It wasn’t my memory, just a snapshot stolen from the virus-riddled mind of a dead woman, but that didn’t make it feel any less real I died in Sacramento If I did what they wantedto be the kind of person who valued her life ia Mason at all Unless I wanted to find so to be, this hat I was et Eet the kids out of here," I said slowly "They’re going to be civilians in a position to confires, they won’t make it out of here alive"

Steve cracked his knuckles "Don’t worry about them The First Lady still has friends in the Secret Service We can extract the kids at any ti a team to extract the First Lady fro held, and move her to a secure EIS facility near here," said Dr Shoji

"The EIS has been a busy little secret governanization" I looked levelly at Dr Shoji "If I do this, I need to know that we’re not replacing one bad deal with another What are your plans?"

"I don’t speak for the EIS as a whole, and I can’t see the future," he said "But for the past ten years at least, we’ve been bleeding off the best recruits the CDC gets We’ve been getting the eneration, the ones ant a solution that doesn’t always involve a bullet I think that corruption is a risk for every organization Even ours But we’re going to be very busy for quite so up the o the way of the CDC, it probably won’t be within ht now," I said "That’s fair But you realize that if I do this, if I get involved, and you ever, ever start to cross the line--"

"I can’t promise what the future will be All I can do is promise that the EIS will try to et the kids out of here Dr Shoji, do whatever you need to do to get them to safety, and make sure Dr Shaw takes care of Eun I can borrow? The Secret Service confiscated all of ours"

Rick blinked "I was expecting you to ask for an Internet connection"

"Oh, I’et everybody back together, but first, we have a job that requires weapons" Steve unsnapped his sidear coolly at Rick "We need to go and kidnap the president"

"And here erous," said Gregory

Rick didn’t say anything But sloith an expression of alret to inform you that we have lied to you Last year, whenfor our lives, being pursued by no less an adversary than the Centers for Disease Control Our flight began when Dr Kelly Connolly, believed dead following a break-in at the Memphis CDC, arrived at our Oakland offices and asked for our help The destruction of Oakland followed soon after In the interests of concealing our location and activities, ere forced to present a cover story to the world For this, on the behalf of the Factual News Division, I apologize