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I held back the rush of relief coursing through me. “But he was passing out. He’s been unconscious?”
“The doctor who diagnosed him was paid to tell him he had tumor and tamper with some medication, that’s all,” Scott explained. “It was never supposed to go this far.”
“Oh, that’s all? He’s passed out in places he could’ve died.”
“I’m sure he just took a few too many or something. He thought the gummies were cannabis to help keep his anxiety and pain down until the surgery. They were only meant to give him aural migraines.”
“You’re telling me he’s fine? He’s going to live?”
“Yes,” Hayes assured with a big politician’s smile. Like everything would be forgiven now. Like we all could forget this ever happened.
“So what? You used the threat of the tumor to get him desperate enough to take the Alvarez hit?”
Hayes nervously glanced between me and Marco, trying to determine who he needed to lie to more. In the end he split his response down the middle. “We needed to distract Coop—soften Marakata’s security—and open the Amazon transport routes. That was all it was supposed to be.”
“For the emerald. But then Marco survived, so you went with Plan B?”
“I knew if we sniffed around the site, maybe Zaki would worry and bring the emerald back up.”
I glared at Scott. A man I’d worked with for years, trusted. I could almost have forgiven him if he’d just tried to steal the Ozma Emerald, but to do this to Coop? Pure evil. And the way he kept smiling at me, like he was so sure I wouldn’t kill him. Wouldn’t fill his body with bullets. Like he could talk his way out of this room. He’d really never had any respect for me. But that wasn’t worth my thoughts right now. Not with Coop still out cold.
“Then what’s this all about?” I asked, flagging my hand at Coop’s body on the operating table. I eyed the surgeon. “You got your fucking money. What were you going to do? A fake surgery?”
The surgeon glanced uncomfortably at Scott Hayes.
“It wasn’t my idea,” Hayes said, holding his hands out. “The whole harvesting thing… Look, it wasn’t my idea.”
Harvesting!My eyes bugged out as I glared at the piece of shit in blue scrubs. The one I’d begged to do everything he could to bring Coop back to me. The one who’d assured me he would do his best. “You didn’t take this job to save him, did you? You were paid to harvest his organs?”
At the slight nod of acknowledgment, I shifted, pointing my gun at the surgeon, and pulled the trigger twice. He dropped instantly, while the other players with guns stiffened their semi-relaxed stances to go back hard with their aims.
“Next!” I gritted out, my own barrel now trained on Hayes. For the first time in years, the asshole actually eyed me with the respect I deserved.
“Whoa, whoa. I came here to stop this.”
And still he lied. “Try again.”
“I swear. Didn’t Zaki tell you?”
I shook my head with a laugh, but now was certainly not the time to let him in on what went on behind the curtains on Marakata Cay. I glanced over at Coop, realizing we’d come just in time. His entire torso had been marked up for organ removal, but thankfully no cuts had been made. “Vivi, would you be so kind as to find a nurse not on anyone’s payroll, put her on ours, and have her bring Coop back awake safely?”
“On it, love,” Vivi said, heading out again.
Wolfe stepped up to guard Hayes. The big Viking had Hayes, who was no small man himself, cowering.
“Good. Yes, let’s wake our patient,” Marco cooed, reminding me that he was still in the room and why. “I’d much rather Michael Cooper be awake to benefit from the extent of my revenge. It’s no fun if I can’t torture him.”
Shit.I eyed Marco. “How about we make a deal?”
“A deal? And are you speaking for Zaki, young lady?”
Young lady?It happened so often I didn’t even show my offense. I simply replied, “I am.”
“No, I am. Zaki gave me full authority,” Hayes piped up, but the tip of Wolfe’s knife in his carotid artery had him clamping his lips.
“Tell you what, I bet Zaki would be honored to speak with you directly,” I suggested amicably.
Hayes looked like he was about to throw up.
Marco straightened, honored to finally get to speak with the great and powerful one in ‘person’. “Yes, that would be delightful.”
“Very well, I’ll set it up right now.”
Within minutes I’d conjured Zaki up. Marco slapped his thigh and scanned the room as if thoroughly entertained by all of this. The OR with all its implementations and a full wall of windows showcasing the beauty of the rain forest as a backdrop. The dead organ-harvesting surgeon slumped on the floor at his feet. Me, standing guard in front of Coop, who was still unconscious and on a variety of machines. Viking-esque Wolfe with his knife poised to slit Hayes’ throat and his Glock trained on Marco’s chest. But it was Zaki’s hologram that took center of this very strange stage.
Marco Alvarez seemed to think the same, because he tapped the barrel of his gun to his lips and asked, “What is that saying about hell being empty?”
My fingers twitched as I finished the Shakespeare quote for him.
“Yes, Mr. Alvarez,” Zaki said. “‘All the devils are here’ now.”
