Page 118 of The Hero Within
"I don't know! I don't know!" Tears and snot ran down his face as he cowered.
"Henry Chin told me everything!" Eden clicked the safety off, her vision narrowing down the line of the pistol as she stared into his pathetic eyes. "You deliberately infected Wastelanders, so you could move on the Copperplate mine without paying the price we wanted."
He finally broke, nodding furiously. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I did it! I needed the deal. You don't understand—"
For a second she actually considered pulling the trigger. The violent urge to end this man filled her like a poison.
"Don't do it, angel," Johnny said softly. "You know you'll always regret it."
I want to. I want to so badly....
"Miles?" Nigel croaked. "Is this true?"
She saw it in his eyes and wanted to end him. "Youdon'tdeserve to live," she managed to say, pushing harder with the pistol, until the scent of urine stung her nostrils. Miles slowly sunk to his knees, shaking, quivering, cowering before her like the pathetic bully he was.
"Please," he gasped. "Please don't hurt me, Miss McClain!Please. I'll do whatever you want. I promise."
"His death is not worth your guilt." A hand rested on the small of her back. "Easy, darlin'. Let's leave some of him behind to pay for what he's done."
Eden tore the pistol down, clapping a hand over her mouth as she gasped. She shook. Violently. She'd almost shot him. Almost murdered a man. He didn't deserve to live—not after what he'd done—but she wasn't a killer.
She refused to let Miles Wentworth twist her into something she wasn't.
Eden let Johnny take the pistol from her, and collapsed into his arms. He caressed a hand down her spine.
"Beautiful," Mayhew breathed behind them, a red light blinking as he held the datapad up. "Got it all on tape—confession and all. You're going down, Wentworth. Both of you."
Nigel's head snapped up. "I had nothing to do with this. I didn't know he'd taken some of my plague samples!"
"Yourplague samples," Mayhew spat. "There's going to be a lot of people who start asking questions about what you've been up to, Nigel."
"Are you okay?" Johnny asked, as Nigel bleated something at Mayhew.
She looked up. Nodded. There was a hollow mess in her heart as if her anger had suddenly flamed out. All she felt was exhausted. "Yeah. Better now I hit him."
A smile bloomed over his dangerous mouth. "It was the perfect punch. Adam taught you well." His smile died. "But now it's time to get to work, angel," Johnny murmured, holding his gun on Miles. "This is your part of the action."
Arik set up by the doors, gun held ready as he stared into the darkened corridors.
"What are we looking for?" she asked Mayhew shakily. Every fridge was neatly labeled, with a strange barcode on the front.
He shrugged. "There's nothing in the database. It's like this thing doesn't exist, except in rumors of what brought down Radisson."
Lincoln grabbed Nigel by the scruff of the neck and hauled him toward the fridges. "Where's the cure for the plague?"
"I don't—"
Mayhew put a gun to Miles's temples. "Get the fucking cure, Nigel, or I'll spray your brother's brains all over the floor. If that doesn't inspire any action, then you're next. We're a little short on time."
"The nanoparticle solution’s called Ener-V," Nigel bleated. "That’s what you’re after to cure the plague. The vaccine should be in the same fridge."
Eden scanned label after label. Despite the chill in the room, her hair was damp with sweat.
Phase two was about to kick her in the teeth.
"Here it is!" she called, finally finding the right label.
Mayhew scanned the strange code on the front of the fridge. "Give me a moment to check if these are the right vials." He looked at Nigel. "It's coming up as password protected. I could break it, but it would take a while. What's the password?"
