“I’ll take money.”
“What money?” Rothchilde laughed.
“Half a million.”
Rothchilde rolled his eyes, obviously enjoying himself. “And why would I give you half a million?”
“For the FDA to approve N-Som.”
The smile faded and Rothchilde raised an eyebrow.
“An interesting proposal. But I don’t think you’ll do it. You’re too honest.”
“You could keep men with me until it’s finished. We could have all the paperwork done by the end of the week.”
Bill watched him think it over. He could almost see the little balance scale in Rothchilde’s head, weighing the pros and cons.
“You’d do it for a measly half a million?”
“Half a million, plus my life.”
Rothchilde pondered for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, he grinned.
“Deal.”
Ding.
They both looked off to the side.
The elevator was coming up.
Bill fought panic. As soon as Theena stepped out, Rothchilde was going to catch the lie and kill him.
“Ready to go?” Bill took two casual steps towards him. Rothchilde bayed him with the gun.
“Hold on. I want to see who’s in the elevator.”
“It’s probably Dr. Myrnowski. I asked her to bring me some medicine for Manny.”
“We’ll see in a moment, won’t we?”
Ding.
The doors opened. Bill tensed.
There was no one in the lift.
No… there was something crouching down. Something unbelievably bloody.
Rothchilde cocked his head, looking like a confused dog. “Carlos?”
The lump raised his arm. It ended in a gun.
Bill dove to the side when the shooting began.
Rothchilde danced back and forth, firing with insane glee, the muzzle flashes lighting up his eyes.
Carlos was a ruin, not even recognizable as human. He was barely able to hold up the weapon, let alone aim.
Bill took off. The front door was unlocked, the portal to freedom open. But Theena was still in the basement.
He headed for the emergency exit.
Bill threw a glance over his shoulder and watched Rothchilde stand over Carlos and pump round after round into his extremities, the mobster wiggling like a worm on a pin. The look on Rothchilde’s face was rapturous.
Bill ducked through the doorway and took the stairs down two at a time. When he reached the lower level he screamed out Theena’s name.
“Bill?”
She ducked out of the lab, her arms filled with drugs.
“The gun! Quick!”
“What about Manny?”
Bill grabbed her arm, bottles toppling to the floor. “Your boss showed up, he just killed Manny.”
“Albert? I don’t believe…”
There was a distant bell. The elevator was coming down.
Bill pivoted back towards the staircase, then hit the brakes.
Was Rothchilde really in the elevator? Or did he just send the elevator down to force them up the stairs, where he was waiting?
“Dammit. We have to hide. The gun.”
Theena handed it over. Bill ushered Theena back into the lab. He needed a vantage point, a place where he’d have a clear shot. There were three large counters, lined up in rows, each running half the length of the room. Bill pulled Theena behind the corner of the farthest one, crouching behind the built-in sink.
“Albert really shot Manny?”
“While I was giving him CPR. Then that mob guy came up in the elevator, and Rothchilde shot him in the arms and legs.”
“Why would he do that? I thought they worked for Albert.”
“To be honest, I think he did it because he liked it.”
Bill fumbled with the gun. He found the button that released the clip, and was shocked to see there was only one bullet left. That plus one in the chamber. Two bullets didn’t seem like a whole lot.
“Should I use the intercom, try to talk to him?”
“I don’t think it will help.”
“So we should just wait here and shoot him when he comes in?”
Bill jammed the clip back in. “That’s the idea.”
He rested on one knee and kept a bead on the doorway. The adrenaline was wearing off, and Bill tried to come to grips with their situation. He was planning on killing someone. It went against everything he knew, everything he was. His education, his sheltered upbringing, his lofty morals, his profession; none of it mattered any more.
After Kristen’s death, he’d made an oath to never hurt a person again.
I don’t have a choice, he told himself. Rothchilde was going to kill them both. If it didn’t happen today, it would happen soon enough. The man had too much to hide, and murder was his only out. Plus, the son of a bitch enjoyed it.
Self-defense, self-defense, self-defense. It echoed in Bill’s head, his mantra. But he kept seeing Manny after he shot him, falling to the ground, gasping for air. Then he saw Kristen, her vitals slipping away moments after he gave her the injection that was supposed to heal her.
There was a noise in the hallway. Footsteps.
Bill no longer wanted to hold the gun. He wanted to drop it and run away.
The door opened.
Theena nudged him. Rothchilde stuck his head in the door and took a cautious look around.
Bill knew he couldn’t do it. Maybe his morals were too strong. Maybe he was afraid of the guilt. Rothchilde was only ten feet away, a sitting duck, and Bill’s hands shook with effort but he couldn’t kill the man like this.
He fired a bullet into the ceiling instead.
Rothchilde dropped to the ground and rolled behind the opposite counter.
“We’ve both got guns.” Bill’s voice was wavering as much as his hands. “There’s no way to get out of this cleanly.”
“Exciting, isn’t it?”
So exciting that Bill wanted to retch.
“Theena? Are you with Dr. May?”
Bill put his finger to his lips, but Theena was too angry to hold back. “You’re a killer, Albert.”
“I know. It’s very empowering. Listen, darling, I need your help. I have a… specimen, and I need you to make some N-Som out of his brain. If you do that, I’ll let you both go.”
“It’s over, Rothchilde!” Bill tried to sound confidant. “Just walk out of here. You have time to get out of the country before this story breaks.”
“Theena, honey. Listen to me. This can’t end peacefully, but I promise you’ll survive. You have my word. Take Bill’s gun away from him. Just take it away, sweetie. He won’t fight you.”
Theena grabbed the gun and pulled. Bill had been gripping the weapon loosely, and she pried it away before he could react.
He looked into her eyes, unable to speak. The depth of her betrayal left him devastated.
Theena raised the gun. Her face was so sad, the saddest thing he’d ever seen.
