“That’s what you get for making shit personal,” I pointed out. “I would have been happy to live the rest of my life in the middle of nowhere, hunting deer and skinny dipping in the summer.” Sure enough, Hamilton had to grunt at that, which was audible even with the suits and all. I ignored him, my focus remaining on Stone. “But you can’t expect to kidnap the person most important to me and use him as a guinea pig and not call the wrath of me down on yourself.” Maybe I was laying it on a little heavily, but who cared? Stone looked bad, but not die-within-the-next-minute bad. I’d limped away from way worse myself.
I didn’t care for the nasty grin appearing on Stone’s face. I really had liked him better when I’d thought he was just a sleek paper pusher. “You do know that’s not all we did to him, right?”
I waited for either of the guys to say something, but Hamilton seemed for once content to let me do the talking—with running grunt commentary, of course—and for Nate it wasn’t that unusual. Glancing from Stone to the arsenal they were both toting, I shrugged as I turned to my husband. “May I borrow your combat knife? For whatever reason I’m suddenly overcome with the urge to ram it up his ass, blade first.”
Nate had to turn around so I could catch his smirk. “Be my guest.”
Stone looked alarmed for a second—which should not have been this gratifying but sure was—but relaxed when he realized I wasn’t about to lumber over to him so I could sodomize him with an edged weapon. Maybe later. Instead, I did my best to sound diplomatic, although I felt anything but. “How about we at least attempt to remain civil? We’re all intelligent people here. This doesn’t have to end in needless bloodshed.” Since that had already happened—and there wasn’t much else to do except deal with Stone—I felt that wasn’t even a lie. Stone didn’t believe me, of course, proving a different kind of smart.
“You’re too late,” he offered, sounding tired yet vindicated. “Everything you have been looking for is already destroyed.”
My gaze flitted over to the autoclave, happily continuing doing its thing. “Honestly, unless there’s a cure for the zombie virus in there, I’m not interested. For that, I’d maybe try to shut that thing off and rescue whatever possible, even if it’s denatured shit by now.” I narrowed my eyes at him, although I wasn’t sure whether he’d even see that. “Do you have the cure? Unlikely since I doubt you’ve been looking for it, but I have to ask. For my inner peace, and shit.”
Stone blinked, torn between being irritated with me, and confusion. “Why would you not—” he started, then cut himself off. “No, there’s no cure. You know that.” His expression turned shrewd. “You do know, but that’s not what you meant, right? You know that you’re a dead woman walking, don’t you? Whatever you do, the serum will soon kill you.”
It was surprisingly easy to shrug that off. What a difference a few days made—that, and bone-deep exhaustion. Permanent death to escape the painful weight my body had gained wasn’t sounding that bad right now. “Which just makes me twice as deadly and ten times as dangerous, to you,” I stressed, following that up with a jovial gesture as I spread my arms. “Let’s be civil. You tell us everything you know, including what you’ve been doing here and why you thought murdering every single scientist working for you was a bright idea. And maybe I kill you quickly, without finding out first whether I can freeze off your dick with liquid nitrogen.”
Stone didn’t seem perturbed by the threat. Maybe I should have held out on my musing until now, or offer up a repetition? Nate had other plans, though, coming out of his glowering stupor. “You could start by telling us where Decker is.”
Stone smirked, leaning back against the tank that was the only thing holding him upright now. “Ah, wouldn’t you like to know?”
“We would,” Hamilton answered. “And if her rambling has given you any wrong ideas, we have absolutely no qualms beating the answers we seek out of you.”
“Oh, I trust that you don’t,” Stone said, his grin spreading. I wondered briefly whether he was having a psychotic break. I could see how people still underestimated me—stupid move, but it happened—but he knew damn well who my companions were, and what they were capable of, and he didn’t seem to suffer from any delusions that he would get out of this alive. A smart man would have tried to bargain for a quick, painless end. His situation was the definition of nothing left to lose.
“What do you know that we don’t?” Stone’s attention snapped back to me but he didn’t answer. “You could really profit from appeasing us, whichever way possible.”
He pursed his lips, still deliberating. “Actually, I think he’d want me to share this with you. Oh, yes. It would be quite the reunion. Too bad I won’t be there to see it.” He briefly glanced at Nate, then Hamilton, but continued speaking to me. “Sadly, I have never been informed of where his hideout is. You could consider that the best-kept secret in the world right now. But I have a feeling that he will find a way to reach out to you, now that you’ve proven to become a prime nuisance. Please, ask what you want to know and I shall answer it to the best of my knowledge.”
Very gracious of him—and I wasn’t going to look that gift horse in the mouth. Not yet, at least. “Why kill the scientists? With Walter Greene you had a veritable legend locked in here. Why the fuck would you murder him like any useless gutter rat?”
“Orders,” Stone offered, ending with a wet cough. “I had them. The guards had them. And I’m sure several of the scientists did, too. The only reason why I’m still alive was because I was chosen to be last.”
“Because you’re so damn important, huh?” Hamilton goaded him on.
Stone’s grin resurfaced. “Because I’m expendable, and because I’m about as fucking useless to you as they come.” His attention turned back to me. “Walter Greene was a true visionary. The serum project wouldn’t have developed in the direction it eventually took, and our efforts would have been fraught without him. Leaving him alive for you to brainwash him into helping you and thus destroying his greatest creation? Impossible. If we hadn’t offered him a merciful death, he would have done it himself.”
That answer didn’t sit right with me on so many levels. One certainty was the feverish tone it was delivered in. Another, the sheer senseless loss and stupidity of the idea. But what really made bile rise in the back of my throat was that it reminded me an awful lot of the speech Dr. Alders—the mad scientist we’d found in NORAD, who had been one of the founding brains behind the serum project—had given that had made exactly as much sense: none whatsoever. Maybe that shouldn’t have come as a surprise as it seemed the next step to connect the dots and throw them all into the same pile of assholes that deserved to die…
And still, something didn’t add up.
“Let’s suppose I believe that—”
Stone cut me off with a snort. “You’ll have to take my word for it, seeing as I’m the last man standing.” His head snapped in the direction of the red room. “And you must have seen the evidence with your own eyes. So why doubt me?”
Why indeed? Sadly, the truth didn’t do shit to set me free in this case.
“What exactly have you been doing here? The scientists, I mean. I’m starting to understand that you’ve only ever been the face of everything that’s wrong with this world, but not bright enough to be directly involved.”
If that hit him, he didn’t show it, his amusement only growing. “What exactly have we been doing?” he said in a musing tone. All that was missing to turn him into a movie villain was a small mustache and his fingers stroking his chin. “Ah, right,” he went on, as if he’d just remembered. “We were busy working on wiping the vermin off the earth, and in a way that even the most idealistic, stupid moron couldn’t refute the evidence anymore.” Somehow, I got the impression he was talking about me specifically with that.
“You mean the scavengers?”
He snorted, as if that suggestion amused him. “Nothing but pawns,” he insisted. “It would have been a waste not to sweep them o
ff alongside seeing as the opportunity presented itself.” I was suddenly glad Eden wasn’t in here to hear that—and I hoped that Hamilton would manage not to spill that can of worms first chance he had. It was bad enough that thousands of good fighters were doomed. No need to rub their faces in why since there was nothing they or anyone else could do about it.
“You mean the serum project, and everyone who’s gotten inoculated with it,” I offered up next. Stone smiled, as if I’d morphed into his favorite overachieving student. I couldn’t help but frown. “How does that make sense? The serum project is Decker’s baby. Personal resentments aside, why kill thousands of capable soldiers who have more than done their duty?”
Stone cocked his head to the side, studying me. “And what duty have you performed, Dr. Lewis? Besides becoming a huge pain in the ass to some, and a real menace to those you profess to care about. What makes you deserving of the advantages the serum conveys?” He let that sink in for a moment—or needed to pause because breathing was becoming increasingly harder for him. “You, like few other people, symbolize why what we do is necessary. The serum was always meant for the elite few who proved worthy of it. Instead, thousands have received it who did nothing but squander this amazing chance.” His focus dropped from me to the men at my side, and his smile took on a nasty lilt. “It was a mistake, but one that proved hard to correct. As you know, this is one of those matters where it takes one to eliminate one, and yet, you are both still standing, after several attempts to correct that.”
Neither Nate nor Hamilton reacted—not even to trade glances with each other—but I couldn’t keep my trap shut about that. “What do you mean? Obviously, we know that Miller spent a while in fallen-from-grace territory. But we know that Decker wants him back. Why else would either of them still be alive?” If nothing else, Stone had just confirmed for me that, whoever had been in charge for real at the camp—Cortez had just been a figurehead on the power trip of his life—had known exactly who they’d had sitting in their prison cells.
Stone gave me a look as if I had deeply disappointed him. “Are you still not getting it? Every single clash that has happened between the both of you was a chance to prove yourself worthy of being welcomed back into the fold,” Stone declared. His tone then turned disdainful. “And what you did was squander it. Giving Hamilton the rescue mission when we knew for a while that the Green Fields Biotech lab would get hit? Sending Miller’s misguided ragtag band of misfits right into the trap at the factory? Leaking the position of the Colorado base, knowing full well Miller would easily pick it out of any possible lineup of destinations? Giving Hamilton the chance to cut Miller’s one weakness right out of his life?” Stone’s attention snapped to me. “You really proved more of a nuisance than anyone could have expected, Dr. Lewis. How you made it to Emily Raynor’s lab is beyond me, and how nobody caved in your skull in France or on the way back will forever remain a mystery—particularly as someone had very specific orders about that and a lot of opportunity.”
I was less surprised to hear that than the bark of laughter coming from Hamilton. “Well, someone must have reasoned that if a very specific thing is that important to a certain entity, why not let them take care of it themselves?” Or make that the fact that he could communicate in something other than grunts and insults.
Nate took a step forward, which seemed to be more of an involuntary reaction than intent. “This all has been a game to him, to see which of us would be the more ruthless and kill the other? His best friend and only rival?” Stone didn’t offer a verbal response, but his expression said it all—Nate had just hit the nail on the head. “Why?” Nate asked, but more to himself. “I gave up that race a decade ago—and Decker knows it. I threw in the towel, and he accepted it. He was disappointed, but the day I asked to be assigned from strike force to search and rescue, he agreed he’d misjudged how some of his methods might backfire, and that this was the logical step in the right direction.” I didn’t exactly know what he was talking about, but the time frame made sense—what happened with Bucky’s sister definitely broke Nate’s back and shifted his moral compass; or maybe even made him remember that he had one, in the first place. He’d more than once stressed that Hamilton had been damn ambitious and only too happy to kick Nate off the number one spot. From what I knew, Decker had mercilessly played the two against each other whenever and wherever possible to force them to one-up and outperform each other, but that seemed to have ended with them both entering the serum program. A good leader knew when to push, and when too much would just break useful tools instead, and Decker had definitely known when to back off, particularly as that left him with two top dogs still in play rather than one, broken by the other’s loss.
It wasn’t Stone who answered but Hamilton instead. “The old man never forgave you for letting me win,” he remarked, sounding less snide than usual, and almost pensive. “I think that was the real betrayal for him. Not that you changed your mind, wanted your old job back, and then found a way to completely screw him over. That you pulled that off likely gained you some of his admiration. I’ve always wondered why he didn’t send me after you before the shit hit the fan. He knew that I was suicidal enough to get the job done and not care whether I made it back or not.”
I wondered if there was something in the air supply that made people spout bullshit they’d otherwise never admit to. Nate went as far as turning toward Hamilton so he could see the look on his face. Hamilton gave a shrug, as if to say it was all the same to him whether that cat was out of the bag now or not. That, in turn, brought up a different question in me that I just had to ask. “What changed?” That something had changed was obvious. His hatred for me aside, Hamilton had passed up a lot of very good chances to give up, least of which had been the arena. And yet, he was still standing, and right next to the man he’d decided to turn from his best friend into his nemesis.
Hamilton considered, surprising me yet again when he gave what sounded like an honest answer. “I’m not sure I can say, exactly. At first, I thought it was the certainty of him biting it after we left you assholes standing in the middle of that overrun town. That first winter was rough, and we had so much to do that I almost forgot about it. Then I got the news in spring that not only was he still alive, but he’d managed to assemble an entire team made up of the rejects and dipshits that he’d collected along the way. I expected that would rekindle my animosity, but I honestly didn’t give a shit anymore. I had my orders, and I followed them to the best of my abilities. Not my fault if some of you proved more resourceful than expected.” He shrugged as if to say he also didn’t get it but it was all the same to him. He turned to Stone then. “Decker really thinks he can somehow select who’ll be a part of his new master race, or some shit? If history taught me anything, it’s that shit like that never works out. I maybe get why he’d take some pleasure from watching the two of us beat each other to death, but that’s personal. The serum project isn’t, and never was. Every single member was painstakingly selected, and a lot of good men and women washed out ahead of getting the shot. He was damn proud of every single one of those who made it.” He paused, casting me a sidelong glance. “Even though I don’t get why she was elected to be worthy of surviving, he must have had his reasons. I’ve never met a single person where that wasn’t the case. So why the change of heart now?”
It was strange bordering on insane hearing Hamilton say that—about me, specifically, but everyone else as well. It also cast Decker into a very different light from the image of him that I’d formed in my head. Hamilton’s tone bordered on reverent, and considering what that monster had others do to his sister—and how that had destroyed everything in his life just as much as in Nate’s—that was saying a lot.
Unlike me, Stone looked less impressed with our powers of deduction. “As I said, I’m expendable,” he reiterated. “And I’m by far not important enough to have all the answers.” He opened his mouth to say more but succumbed to a bloody coughing fit that went on for ove
r a minute. His skin looked deathly pale, and not just in contrast to the blood splattered across the lower half of his face. “I’m afraid we will have to cut this conversation short if you insist on torturing me still. Even if that is no longer the case, I’ve about outlasted my usefulness. If there’s nothing else—”
Not so fast. “What was the intent behind testing out all the components and variants you tested out on these two, and the others in the arena? Drug trafficking might have been of great benefit for Cortez to keep the camp running, but you had a purpose beyond that.”
Stone looked vexed, as if he had to explain something simple to a child—again. “To find something to break the serum’s hold on someone,” he said. “Waiting for all of those undeserving to fall over and die might take a decade or more. Might have come in handy as an incentive for others to join him in his cause as well. You and those miserable bastards you collect and drag around with you still see it as a blessing, even when you can’t avoid facing that, to all of you, it will only ever be a curse. Ask your friends from the Silo how much they would have appreciated a tool to strip you of the danger you present. Ask any of the settlement citizens.”
Now he was sounding like Emma, Sadie’s mother, who’d kicked us out of the bunker and later the Wyoming Collective because our cooties might rub off on someone. That this had backfired colossally and cost her spending time with her own daughter and grandchild was just one more sad fact in our lives. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of all those grandiose claims. Oh, I was sure that Stone believed them wholeheartedly—but both Hamilton and Nate had proven to me repeatedly that, where Decker was concerned, it seemed impossible for people to get a real grasp of the situation.
“Anything else you feel like sharing?” I asked, then turned to my companions. “Because if not, I’ll consider this done.” If Nate was surprised about that, he didn’t show it. Hamilton shook his head, as if to say that he was just along for the ride.
Green Fields Series Box Set | Vol. 4 | Books 10-12 Page 68