I run out of words. My breathing’s fast, yet heavy. I feel a surge of adrenaline in my veins. I feel my breaking point. Everything just spilled out of me, triggered by the slightest push.
What the hell…?
Compared to some of the shit I’ve been through in my time, and despite what’s at stake, this whole situation doesn’t really feel any worse than any other. What the hell’s wrong with me?
I focus my gaze on Ruby, who’s staring at me with wide eyes, filled with—not anger… not even shock… Is it sympathy?
She stands, walks around the bed, stops in front of me, and looks up at me for a moment. She puts her arms around my waist and rests her head on my chest, squeezing me gently.
I don’t know how to react. My adrenaline hasn’t subsided yet, and I’m holding my arms out to the sides, not sure if I should embrace her or push her away.
“I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “Okay? I’m sorry.”
I slowly move my arms around her as my heart rate slows, and hold her close to me as I fight another foreign concept—emotion. I feel overwhelmed, like what I’m doing is too big. I don’t honestly know if I can do this, regardless of how much help I might have.
I push her away slightly, holding her by her shoulders at arm’s length, staring into her eyes. “Ruby, if we fail…”
She tilts her head, smiling wryly. “If? If? Adrian, if your auntie had balls, she’d be your uncle!”
I frown. “Huh?”
She shrugs. “I dunno—something my old man used to say. The point is, since when do we deal with ifs? We deal in blood and bullets, Adrian. That’s it. I don’t blame you for losing sight of that. Shit, I can’t imagine what’s going on in your head right now. But I’m telling you—blood and bullets. Understand? Nothing else.”
I walk away, zoning out of the moment and gaze blankly through the window. The lights across the skyline blur together as my mind wanders.
A knock on the door disturbs me. I spin around, catching Ruby’s eye. “You order room service?”
She shakes her head. “Nope. Could it be Oscar?”
I relax a little. I forgot about him. I called him earlier, and he said he would be here at around 10:00 p.m. I check the clock in the room and walk toward the door. As I reach for the handle, it opens from the outside.
Well, it’s not Oscar…
22:11 EDT
General Matthews walks into the room, brushing past me with indifference. I watch him, completely dumbfounded. He’s not in his full military garb—just a regular suit, carrying a briefcase. He looks thinner than I remember. I’ve not seen him since… since he killed half a billion people.
I need a minute…
What the fuck?
What the fuck?
I blink hard and shake my head.
… And we’re back.
I push the door shut and walk hurriedly over to him. I throw a punch, which catches him on the side of his face as he turns around to look at me, having been glancing curiously around the room. He goes down, dropping his case. I kick it away from him, reach down, grab him by his lapels, and haul him back to his feet. I punch him again—this time in the stomach—before pushing him onto the bed.
I lock eyes with him, my baby blues fixing a cold stare filled with hot fury. I don’t blink. “Ruby, get the gun, keep it on him.”
I look at her when she doesn’t move and see the confused expression on her face.
“This is General Matthews.”
Her eyes go wide. She moves for the gun and aims it at him.
I turn back to him. The rush of anger I feel is quick and frightening. “You piece of shit! How dare you come to me, you fuck! I should kill you right now…”
Matthews holds his hands up. “I… I expect you to.” His voice cracks with emotion. With fear. “But you need to hear me out first.”
Ruby steps forward, the gun unwavering in her hand. “Why the hell should we?”
“Because we’re running out of time and you can still stop this… this madness!”
Ruby and I take an involuntary step back, shocked.
I hold my hand out to Ruby, signaling for her to lower the gun. Shit just got interesting…
“Say what now?”
He shuffles himself up to a sitting position on the bed. “I’m a dead man. I know that. I just hope I’m not too late to make amends.” He points to his briefcase. “In there.”
I turn to Ruby. “Watch him.”
I move over to the case, which is now near the foot of the second bed, nearest the door. I pick it up, rest it on top of the covers, and click it open. It’s full of files and paperwork.
I look over at Matthews. “What’s this?”
“Everything,” he replies. “That evidence you’ve got… it’s okay. It’ll get people asking questions. But it won’t stop anyone. It won’t make a real difference. And that’s the sad truth. But everything in that case… it will change the course of history.”
I quickly start sifting through the papers. All my earlier concerns and doubts—none of that matters anymore. People say it can take just a second to change your life. They weren’t kidding.
I’ll admit, the majority of the documentation means little to me.
“Why are you here, Matthews? Why the sudden change of heart?”
“Because Cunningham wants me dead!” he screams. “I messed up and now he’s trying to get rid of me. At first I was angry at you. It’s your fault I’m in this position…”
“My fault? How am I to blame for anything that’s going on?”
“Because you won’t die!”
I scoff and hold my hands up. “Oh, I’m sorry…”
“Ever since Atlanta, I’ve been trying to kill you—to tie up the one loose end I had left. But you’re a resilient sonofabitch.”
I shrug. “Thanks.” I glance at Ruby. “That was a compliment, right?”
She shakes her head and rolls her eyes.
I look back at Matthews. “I know you’ve been using Cerberus to track me. And I’ve lost count of how many body bags I’ve filled. I’m going to stop Cunningham. You know that, right? I’m gonna kill that bastard and—”
“And that won’t do a goddamn thing…” He shakes his head regretfully. “That’s why I’m here. He’s set his sights on me, now. I know he has. And nothing can stop him. It’s all in the case. Everything. Every last goddamn detail of what he’s planning. This is bigger than you can imagine, Adrian.”
I can’t hide the concern from my face. He’s telling the truth, I’m sure of it. I don’t like it, but he is. I lock eyes with Ruby, who looks much the same as I probably do—wide-eyed, slack-jawed, and completely speechless.
All this time it’s been presumed the buck stops with Cunningham. I’ve been working on the basis that if I can find a way of killing him, things will go back to the way they were. But now Matthews is saying that’s not going to happen…
“Then enlighten me… What’s after Cunningham?”
He nods at the briefcase. “It’s all in the there…”
I sigh, losing patience. “Give me the abridged version—that’s a lot of shit to look through.”
Matthews hesitates slightly.
“Don’t clam up on me now, you sack of shit!”
“He’s… ah… it’s Cunningham. His vision for the world… it’s… I understand it. He just wants peace.”
“He’s got a funny fucking way of showing it…”
“He’s an intelligent man, Adrian. Probably more so than you give him credit for. The Armageddon Initiative was his own creation, because he knew in order for his plan to work… for it to be accepted by the American people, he needed an enemy. In every story, there has to be a villain. Cunningham believes he’s the hero. The first stage—hijacking Cerberus and using it on all those different countries—was planned meticulously… for years. And Hamaad El-Zurak served his purpose well as the public hate figure. Installing him as the leader of a fictitious terrorist organization was a strok
e of genius. But the next stage of the plan is happening now. And yet again, Cunningham has someone else to play the part of the villain.”
“What’s the next stage? What could possibly come next that’s worse than what’s already happened, worse than 4/17…?”
“Cunningham knows everything GlobaTech is doing. He knows where every man is, where every truck carrying medical supplies is, every engineer, every consultant… He knows it all. He’s going to destroy GlobaTech’s forces. He never wanted them to be a part of this. Never wanted them involved. Then you started helping them, and they were able to find out enough about what’s happened to think they could buy our silence. But Cunningham already had it figured out. He knew he could use GlobaTech to do the heavy lifting in the first few weeks. It would look great to the people of the world that the United States was helping, and he wouldn’t have to risk one member of our armed forces to do it. Now GlobaTech’s forces are spread so thin, they’ll be easy to wipe out. It’ll leave the world vulnerable, and people will beg Cunningham to help them. Using the full strength of this country’s military, we can destroy the enemy—the enemy Cunningham himself put in place just so they could fail after they’ve served their purpose—and he will control the world as it’s rebuilt from the ground up.”
I can’t believe what I’m hearing… I had no idea the extent of his endgame was this… this fucking crazy! Like Matthews said, you can kind of understand the basis for his plan—nobody wants any more war, any more famine… Why can’t we all just get along, right? But this… You can’t just kill the world and start from scratch!
“Adrian…” says Ruby.
I ignore her, staring at Matthews. “Who’s the enemy this time? Who’s Cunningham using to destroy GlobaTech and start a third world war?”
“Adrian…” she says again.
“Matthews, tell me! Who’s coming for us all?”
He stands and walks into the middle of the suite, the backdrop of the city lit up behind him through the window. He stands tall and takes a deep breath. “North Korea.”
Holy fucking shit…
I turn to Ruby. “I have to warn Josh…”
“Adrian!” she shouts. “We’re too late! Look!”
She points to the TV, and I stare at the screen. The sitcom has disappeared, interrupted by a breaking news bulletin. The volume is too low so I can’t hear the voice of the anchorman on the screen, but behind him is a live video feed from Shanghai, according to the caption below it. It shows explosions and fire and death.
Across the bottom of the screen reads the horrifying headline: NORTH KOREA INVADES!
Ruby’s right—we’re too late.
21
22:31 EDT
I’m watching in horror as more and more reports come up on the screen showing attacks, seemingly all over the world. China… Russia… India… Pakistan… even mainland Eastern Europe… North Korea has popped up out of nowhere and is shooting at peacekeeping forces—namely, GlobaTech—and civilians everywhere.
I look over at Matthews, whose eyes are watering as he stares at the TV screen. He’s shaking his head as if what he’s seeing is just a bad action movie and can’t possibly be real.
“No… no…” he mutters. “I can’t believe he actually went through with it…”
“Hey!” I yell, marching over to him and grabbing him by the throat. I walk him backward and pin him to the glass. “You don’t get to be upset, do you hear me? This is your fault. Yours! You’re the greatest mass murderer this world has ever seen, and this…” I point to the screen behind me. “…is all happening because of you!”
He finally breaks. His whole body shakes as he weeps in front of me. For a split-second, I actually feel bad for him. But I quickly remember he’s a piece of shit. I spin him around by his throat and push him away into the center of the room.
I look over at Ruby and hold my hand out. “Give me the gun.”
Without hesitation she hands it to me. Instinctively, I check the mag, work the slide, and take aim at Matthews’ forehead. “Any last words?”
Ruby takes a step back between the beds. In my peripheral vision I see her looking at me, but she’s also got a trained eye on the TV screen. It’s hard to watch, but also hard not to.
Matthews stares at me with tear-filled eyes, a grim determination creeping across his gaunt face. A few tense seconds of silence pass.
I see his gaze flick past me momentarily.
I see Ruby follow his gaze, a look of shock on her face.
Shit… Something’s happening behind me, isn’t it?
Everything slows down. All sound fades away. I push Matthews to the floor and spin around in time to see The European unhooking himself from a rappel line. He reaches behind him and brings a gun around into view and takes aim at the window.
How the hell did he—?
Time resumes its normal speed.
“Get down!” I yell as I drop to the floor.
I’m not bothered about Matthews, but I hope to God Ruby’s reacted as fast as I have.
The glass splinters and cracks before eventually smashing completely. The second I hear it, I jump to my feet, knowing The European will stop firing at least for a few valuable seconds while he steps through into our suite.
I meet him as he does, grabbing his gun hand, controlling his weapon. I raise his hand skyward and jab him in the ribs. He grunts through it and delivers a short head-butt to my face. I see it coming, but not quickly enough. I turn my head a fraction, so he connects with my cheekbone instead of my nose. It was a snapped blow with little wind-up and, consequently, little momentum.
But it still hurt like a sonofabitch!
I drop to one knee, my head spinning. I glance up and see he’s looking just as dazed as me, despite remaining upright. I fall flat on my back and look forward as I lash my foot out with as much power as I can. I catch him off guard and connect with his knee, taking his leg out from under him. I scramble to my feet as he hits the floor, and I see his gun skid away from us, across the carpet.
I position myself to deliver a kick to the side of his head, but he grabs my front foot and launches a desperate left arm into the side of my leg. The crook of his arm hits my knee. I buckle and drop again, landing heavily on my side.
Ah, shit!
We’re lying on the floor next to each other—me on my side, him on his back. He lurches up and drops his elbow on my face, hitting my cheekbone again. I feel the skin swell and burst instantly from the impact, followed by the warm rush of blood as it starts down my face.
I’m struggling to get my bearings—my leg’s killing me, and the cut on my face feels pretty bad, judging by how much blood I feel coming from it. I roll over onto my front as The European gets to his feet. He scoops up his gun and looks at Ruby before taking aim at…
…at Matthews? What the hell?
I frown, concentrating on trying to ignore the pain I’m feeling. I slowly drag myself up and rest on my right knee. My left isn’t cooperating, and I’m not sure how much pressure it could take. Losing the ability to stand is never good in a fight…
I look up at Ruby apologetically. She catches my eye and nods once. Then I see her descend into the madness I haven’t seen since Baltimore. It’s in her eyes. The crazy floods into them like a river of madness washing over her, taking over completely and allowing her to unleash her demons.
She pounces on The European, which I don’t think he was expecting. He fires a round, which thankfully misses anything of any consequence. And Matthews. He tries to take aim at Ruby, but she’s already got her claws into him. Literally! She’s on his back, her legs around his waist and her nails are sinking into the flesh at the base of his neck, drawing blood.
He lets out a growl and lashes out behind him, narrowly missing her head with his gun. She uses her weight and momentum to start spinning him, eventually dragging him to the floor. They land on their sides, and her grip loosens momentarily. He seizes the opportunity and flips over, pinning her down on h
er back. He’s inside her guard—her legs still around his waist—and he’s doing his best to land punches to her face and body.
She’s a talented fighter, no doubt about it. She’s strong, she’s composed… though, admittedly, at the moment she’s getting her ass kicked, but—
Oh, spoke too soon!
She’s grabbed his arm by the wrist and pulled him down on top of her. Now she’s shuffling her hips, repositioning her legs, placing one on his left shoulder and one under his right arm, crossing her ankles behind him. She’s trapped his head and right arm, and she’s pushing with her legs while pulling on his wrist. I hear her snarl and grunt through gritted teeth, fighting to ignore the obvious pain it’s causing her to do it.
The pressure her thighs are putting on his neck and throat is making it difficult for him to breathe and cutting off the circulation to his brain. He’s frantically throwing short jabs to her right side, but he can’t put anything behind them that would do any damage.
The bastard’s done.
After another few moments, the jabs slow down. Then they stop. His body starts to go limp, giving up the fight with gravity, but she keeps her grip on him. Her legs must be aching, holding him upright now that he’s barely conscious.
She glances sideways at me and raises an eyebrow.
I nod. “Finish the sonofabitch.”
She takes a deep breath, and then quickly lets go of his wrist, moving her left leg from under his arm and placing it on his shoulder, like the other one. She crosses her ankles again and pushes once more with both legs. She lets him fall to the side and props herself up on her elbow.
From this angle, I can see his eyes rolling up into his skull. His cheeks are turning a light purple, and spit is bubbling on his lips as he tries to talk.
“You’re an asshole, Fernando,” she says to him. “And this is for trying to blow up me and my friend!”
She pushes herself up with her hand and violently twists her lower body, throwing her hip over and snapping The European’s neck between her legs. The crack is loud in the room, as is the dull thud as his head bangs lifelessly against the floor.
Ruby lies flat on her back, resting her body and sighing with relief.
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