by S. E. Meyer
“Yes, Sir.” The man motioned for his soldiers to follow him.
Atticus stood over Cornelius. “And what about him? He just gets off scot-free?”
Cornelius smiled, a thin line of blood running from his mouth. “I know something you don't know,” he said, bursting into a hysterical laugh. He reached for his neck as his broadening grin bared yellow teeth. “I win.”
Anna jumped on top of Cornelius, grabbing his hand.
Damarion dropped to a knee. “What is it?”
“Some kind of detonator?” Anna said, holding Cornelius hands away. “Get Jax in here.”
They tied Cornelius's hands behind his back while they waited for Jax to arrive.
Jax entered the room and knelt next to Anna. “What's going on?”
Anna turned Cornelius's head. “Do you know what this is?”
Jax inspected the small device. “It's wireless. Hmm, and It's communicating with something.”
Atticus jogged into the study from the bathroom. “I found something. In here.”
Jax followed Atticus into the bathroom. “Well, that seems out of place, doesn't it?”
He inspected the large box, opening the lid to access the control panel. “It's monitoring his vitals.” Jax wrinkled his brow. He turned to face Atticus as Damarion entered the room. “This is a warhead. Nuclear, I believe.”
“Can you turn it off?” Damarion asked.
Jax tapped at the control panel. “Maybe, give me a minute.” After several tries he shook his head. “I can't disarm it without a password. It looks like Cromwell set it up to detonate if his vitals went flat.”
Atticus slacked his jaw, poking his head around the corner. “Anna,” he called.
Anna stepped into the bathroom and Atticus faced her. He shook his head while maintaining eye contact. “Anna, you were right. I don't know how you knew, but if you had killed him...” Atticus trailed off.
Anna faced Jax. “Password is e1therway1w1n.”
Jax turned to the control panel. “How do you know that?”
Anna bit her lip, brushing the hair from her cheek. “I'm not sure how I know. I just know.”
Jax tapped in the password, disarming the warhead. He let out a long breath. “It worked.”
Atticus gestured towards the study. “What are we going to do with him?”
Damarion turned. “Cromwell? He'll get what's coming soon enough by the looks of him.”
Atticus shook his head. “Dying of Fleishman's doesn't seem like enough justice for all the pain this man has caused.”
Anna stepped closer. “It isn't. I have something special in store for him.”
Damarion faced Anna. “What did you have in mind?”
Anna looked at Damarion with a slow nod. “It's time Cornelius Cromwell felt the buckle of his own belt.”
◆◆◆
Anna set Cornelius onto the Chamber bed.
“Lie back, Mr. Cromwell.”
Cornelius had no energy to put up a physical fight. “You can't do this. Do you know what will happen to me if I die while I'm in the Chamber?”
Anna nodded. “Yes. You could have saved yourself had you made more than one cure before destroying the lab. Your own hubris killed you.”
She connected the wires and tubing to Cornelius as he went into another fit of coughing.
“I was thinking about your justification for killing so many people. You claim to be a hero, but there's a flaw in your thinking.”
Cornelius raised an eyebrow. “How so, Miss Wool?”
“If you were legitimately trying to save us all from some future disaster, a pandemic or starvation, you would have invested billions into cures or sustainable food growing solutions for the masses, rather than murder billions of innocent people. No, you turned it into a business model for profit and that's where I'm calling bullshit. You did all of this for wealth and control.” Anna shook her head. “The love of money is the root of all evil. Your motivation was nothing but pure greed.”
Anna stepped toward the control panel and tapped the screen, starting the Chamber as Cornelius's eyes grew wide. “You can't let me die in here! I'll be tortured forever!”
Anna touched the green icon. “It would appear you're out of moves, Sir.”
“Nooo,” Cornelius moaned from behind wild eyes. His eyelids fluttered as he turned his head, losing consciousness in a sea of nightmares.
CHAPTER 59
Anna stepped through an opening in the pile of rubble accumulating on Cornelius's front yard. The people heard he now lay in his own Chamber and they were moving the wall’s debris to the Mansion, intending to bury him with his own wall.
Damarion exited the Mansion's front door as Anna arrived.
“How are things coming along Governor?”
Damarion smiled. “Very well. We have removed everything we need from the mansion. I'm on my way out. We set up new offices inside the senate capitol building. Now the people can have what they want.” Damarion scanned the continuous line of dump trucks dropping their wares. “This house will be a concrete debris monument. A reminder of what too much power in the wrong hands can do.”
They walked towards the end of the driveway as a bulldozer began pushing the rock piles up against the mansion's walls.
“I heard the food plants are back up and running,” Anna said.
Damarion nodded. “Yes, we isolated the additives in question and destroyed them.” Damarion turned to face Anna. “What about you? How are you doing?”
“A little weak from the blood draws, but the people at Gentech found Frank's research. They say they're close to developing a cure they can mass produce. The clinics are ready and standing by to administer them to everyone in the city.”
“So what's next?”
Anna pressed her lips together. “We have a lot of work to do. Not just here in Easton, but everywhere. We need to get the word out to everyone and supply the cure to the masses.” Anna nodded. “This is just one walled city in a world of many.” She smiled. “It's time for all the walls to finally come down.”
Damarion looked deep into Anna's eyes. “What are you going to do now?”
Anna's grin broadened. “I'm going for a ride. There’s a certain cabin in the woods I need to find.”
Anna drove her car through the main gate and onto the supply road heading south. A brilliant sunrise stretched across the landscape to her left. She checked her pockets and fished out a crumpled piece of paper.
This is an actual check.
With a smile, Anna flattened it out and read.
'Pay to the order of: Montana Wool.'
'In the amount of: A lifetime of my love.'
'Date: When you're ready.'
'Memo: Rain Check.'
Anna turned her gaze back to the road with wet eyes as her smile widened. She let out a laugh while shaking her head and flipped the check over.
Anna tapped the numbers into the car's screen as she read the GPS coordinates in Wesley's handwriting.
“Who are you Wesley Shriner?” she whispered.
Her heart fluttered in her chest as the morning breezes pouring in her car’s window brushed Anna's hair away from her bright blue eyes.
“I think I’m finally ready to find out,” she said, pressing hard on the accelerator.
-THE END-
I hope you enjoyed The Dystopian Gene. Please take a minute to rate or review this book on Amazon. Your feedback is priceless for both me as an author, and other readers.
I look forward to meeting you between the pages again. Please follow my Facebook author page for updates on new releases, special offers, or to browse other books in my list of published works here:
S. E. Meyer's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/semeyerbooks/
Twitter: @semeyerbooks
Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/S.-E.-Meyer/e/B00CFRHL9Y/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
enter>