3 The Evil Archie Clone

Chapter 3 THE EVIL ARCHIE CLONE Of course, Coke and Pep knew all about Dr. Herman Warsaw. He was the lunatic who had chased them halfway across the United States, lured them to The House on the Rock, and tried to kill them there. Instead, it was Dr. Warsaw who met his end tumbling out of The Infinity Room to the rocks below. But none of that mattered right now, because the twins were trapped in a ten-foot-tall wire cage that was hanging a few feet over a pool filled with boiling oil. See? I told you Coke and Pep would be lowered into boiling oil. But you didn't believe me. Maybe you'll trust me from now on. The gears turned slowly, and the cage dropped a few more inches.

"Help! Help!" Pep screamed as she shook the cage violently. "Let us out!" "Save your breath," Archie Clone said. "This truck is totally soundproof. A heavy metal band could do a concert in here and the people standing outside wouldn't hear a peep." "Are you going to drive us somewhere and kill us?" Pep asked desperately. "No, of course not," Archie Clone replied. "I'm going to kill you right here. Or to be more specific, I'm going to fry you right here. Hey, you kids aren't French by any chance, are you? That would be ironic!" The cage dropped a few more inches. Pep shrieked and began to climb up the sides. Coke desperately looked around for a way out. The bottom of the cage was about a foot above the boiling oil. "Dr. Warsaw is dead!" Coke shouted at Archie Clone. "We were there! We saw it happen! You don't need to kill us anymore!" "It doesn't matter to me if Dr. Warsaw is dead or

alive," Archie Clone said, still smiling. "Then why are you doing this?" Pep yelled. "We never did anything to you. We never even met you before today." "True, you didn't," Archie Clone said, "but the three of us have something in common." "What?" Coke asked. "TGF," Archie Clone said. "You know what that stands for, don't you?" The Genius Files. "You're one of us?" Pep shouted. The cage dropped a few more inches, and she climbed higher. The top of the cage prevented her from climbing all the way out. "That's right," Archie Clone said calmly, "and soon I'll be the only one of us." As part of The Genius Files program (which you would know if you had read The Genius Files: Mission Unstoppable), Dr. Warsaw had selected a small group of the brightest children in America. One of these kids might be sitting next to you right now as you read this book. These "gifted and

talented" kids were identified using standardized testing in schools all over the country. Coke and Pep were singled out. They hadn't met any of the other kids in the program… until now. The cage dropped a few more inches, so the bottom of it was now below the level of the boiling oil. Pep screamed. Coke followed his sister's lead, climbing up the wire to avoid the bubbling oil. "So your plan is to kill all the Genius Files kids?" Coke asked. "That's right." "Why?" Coke asked. "What could that possibly accomplish?" "Stop talking with him!" Pep screamed at her brother. "Find a way to get us out of here!" "Oh hush, Pep," said Archie Clone. "There's no way out. I'm sure they told you when you joined The Genius Files that you would get a million dollars when you turn twenty-one years old, right?" "Yeah, so?" said Coke. "What they didn't tell you is that it's not a million dollars for each of us. It's a million dollars

for all of us. We'll split it evenly. So let's say there are a thousand kids who are members of The Genius Files. Do you know what a million dollars divided by a thousand works out to?" Pep moved the decimal point in her head. "A thousand dollars," she said. "That's right," Archie Clone said. "You are pretty smart! Now, I don't know about you two, but I'm not going to put my life on the line for a lousy thousand bucks when I turn twenty-one." "So the more Genius Files kids who die before they reach twenty-one, the more money each survivor gets," Coke reasoned. "Hey, you're catchin' on, big guy!" said Archie Clone. "And if I happen to be the only survivor, well, it doesn't take a genius to figure out what happens." "You get all the money!" Pep shouted. "You're evil!" "He's also insane," Coke added. "Insane?" Archie Clone said, laughing. "Your mother drove halfway across the country to visit a

mustard museum. And I'm the crazy one?" "How did you know about that?" Pep demanded. "Oh, I know all about you two," Archie Clone said, smiling. "I do my homework, like a good boy." "How many other Genius Files kids are still alive?" Coke asked. "How many have you killed?" "That's none of your concern," Archie Clone said. The cage lowered a few more inches and Pep screamed again. The twins pressed themselves tightly against the top. "Do something, Coke!" Pep shouted. "What do you want me to do?" he yelled back at her. "Why don't you figure something out for a change?" "I didn't want to come inside this stupid truck in the first place!" she said angrily. "I knew this was going to be trouble. You told me to relax and have fun!" "I did not!" "I wish you two would stop bickering," Archie Clone said. "It's giving me a headache. Just think of