“Emery,” she prompts, dragging me from my mental spiral.
I pull my phone and notes out of my pocket and set them with the box of compound on the cement floor.
“Okay,” I say, slowly straightening and backing away, “I’m just—just reeling right now.”
“I’m sure,” she says, and gestures for Vince to retrieve my things from the floor.
“We’ve worked together, Claire. I trusted you. I knew Vince was a weasel, but I—I didn’t expect this from you.”
Vince has the nerve to look offended.
“I can see the gears turning from here,” she says, stepping around him. “Trying to piece together my motivations.” Claire tilts her head from side to side. “You’re wondering: Is it business or personal?”
“I cannot fathom either,” I say honestly.
Claire laughs. “Do you know your problem, Emery?” She pauses, brows raised as if I might actually answer. When I don’t, she says, “I’ll tell you. You are so single-mindedly focused on your goal that you neversee what’s going on around you.” She tilts her head toward Luca. “I’m sure your husband would agree.”
Luca tugs against his restraints; his eyes blaze, and I can read his thoughts as if he’s spoken them aloud:This bitch had better hope I don’t get loose.
“I’m sorry I had to drag him into this,” she says, gesturing with the gun to my husband. “But Vince was taking so damn long, I had to speed things up a little.” Laughing, she adds, “No pun intended.”
At first I think she means getting me to bring the compound tonight. But then her true meaning lands, and I feel a heavy wave of nausea roll through me.
“You hit Luca. You actually hit him with your fuckingcar.”
“I sure did. Well, notmycar, I’m not that stupid. But a big one, heavy, with protruding parts for maximum damage.”
My mind fills with the image of him on the street, blood everywhere, and rage rises hot and electric in me. “Why on earth would you do that?”
She straightens and looks directly at me. “Because I already have the specs for the BioVIVE and I’m being paid a truly disgusting sum to procure the compound.”
“This is aboutmoney?”
“How are you surprised?” she asks. “Of anyone, you know how incredible this technology is. Russia could never. China is years behind. No government in the world has access to this.” Lifting the lid, she grins when she sees vials of the compound safely inside. “And let me tell you, these international companies have some hefty checkbooks.”
I look over at Vince. “Were you in on this from the beginning? You act like such a holier-than-thou scientist and then you pull some shit like this?”
“Iama scientist,” he says, his voice thin and anxious. “But I—”
I cut him off. “So what about the BioSCAN? That was your innovation. You’re just going to abandon it?”
“Where did it get me?” he asks. “I spent fifteen years perfecting the technology. It hasn’t even hit the market yet and the board is already treating it like it’s obsolete. You’re the golden child. Everyone has already moved on to the shiny new thing.”
“Grow the fuck up, Vince! That’s called progress. We all have to just keep innovating and pushing forward.”
“While the guys at the top are the ones who get rich. Not me, not you. I’ll get my name in a few publications and a nice bonus. Leonard will buy another yacht.” He shakes his head, disgusted. “No, thank you.”
“It was wonderfully easy to get Vince on board,” Claire says. “His ego is so fragile.”
“Fuck off, Claire,” Vince mutters, but she ignores him.
“I have connections to buyers through my history in politics, of course,” she says casually, “but I needed a scientist to help communicate with the scientists on the other side of the transaction. I just wish I’d have found someone better at subversion so we didn’t have to resort to murdering your husband.”
I suddenly realize that Claire wasn’t lecturing Vince onmybehalf the day I overheard them at the office. She was lecturing him for being an incompetent idiot. Vince was never smart enough to derail my research, and I was never smart enough to realize who was truly trying to undermine me.
“I see you struggling, Emery,” Claire says with feigned sympathy. “So, let’s talk it through: I knew if you saw your husband hit by a car, you wouldn’t call an ambulance. Not with your tragic backstory.”
I clench my jaw, staring at her with such hatred I’m shaking.
