21 Thanks for Nothing

Chapter 21 THANKS FOR NOTHING "How would you like to die?" asked a voice in the dark. Pep went to scream, but a hand came up to cover her mouth before she got a sound out. Coke struggled to his feet, only to be grabbed from behind by powerful arms. "Shhhhhhhh!" a voice said. "It's us." The twins turned around to see who had grabbed them. "Bones!" "Mya!" The pair were dressed in tan uniforms with name tags that said ARCHAEOLOGIST, WACO MAMMOTH SITE. "What are you doing here?" the twins asked simultaneously.

"We needed to speak with you," Mya told them. "We have reason to believe that your lives are in danger once again," said Bones. "Gee, ya think?" Coke said sarcastically. "Yesterday somebody dropped a dead cow on my head. And then I was attacked with motorcycles and bowling balls." "Who's after us now?" Pep asked. "I'm sorry to say it's Dr. Warsaw again," Bones replied. "That's impossible," Coke said. "We saw him in Hot Springs. He was a wreck. He tried to kill us in the vapor cabinets, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He had some kind of a mental breakdown right in front of us." "It's not Dr. Warsaw himself that we're worried about," Mya said. "We think he may have created a clone." "What?!?" Coke said. "How is that possible? I thought human cloning was years away." "It was years away," Bones told him. "But

that was years ago when they said it was years away. Now those years have passed. It's now. And it's possible." "You mean to say that now there are two Dr. Warsaws?" asked Pep. "We don't have proof," Mya said, "only our suspicions. We've heard rumors." Coke kicked at the dirt, nearly breaking his foot on a mammoth tusk. "Well, this is just great," he said disgustedly. "That doubles the chances that he's going to get us." Pep could see her brother's emotions were getting the best of him. That wasn't a good thing. He would be useless in an emergency if he couldn't control himself. "We've been getting these secret messages," Pep said, trying to change the subject. "Hub City Texas Ranger a piece of the Blarney Stone. Do you know who is sending them?" "No," Mya said. "But I'll look into it." "Are you two good for anything?" Coke spat.

"All you ever do is sneak around with your funny disguises and pop up out of nowhere to scare the crap out of us. Then you bring us bad news. You never help us." Bones took a step back. He wasn't used to being talked to that way. "Coke, stop," Pep said. "Need I remind you that we were the ones who saved your lives when you had to jump off the cliff in California?" Bones said calmly. "And we spent our annual budget to get you a Frisbee grenade, which you threw into a swimming pool." "My sister used it to knock the gun out of Evil Elvis's hand!" Coke said. "It ricocheted into the swimming pool!" Coke was furious. It looked as though he was going to throw a punch at Bones, but Mya stepped between them. "Let's not argue, guys," she said. "We're sincerely trying to help you. Here, I brought you a little present."

She took something out of her pocket and handed it to Coke. It was a refrigerator magnet in the shape of Texas. He looked at it carefully. "Is it a camera?" he asked. "Where's the lens?" "It's not a camera," Mya said. "You put it on your refrigerator." "And it explodes?" Coke asked hopefully. "Why would I want to blow up a refrigerator?" "It doesn't explode," Mya told him. "Then how will it save my life?" Coke asked. "It won't save your life," Mya explained. "It will make your refrigerator look nice." Coke shook his head and gave the magnet to Pep so she could add it to her collection. "Just leave us alone, okay?" he said to Mya and Bones. "We don't need your help anymore."