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What if Anarchy, Inc. claimed responsibility for the killings? Would that help? Perhaps. Doesn’t the world deserve the truth? Isn’t that my job?
This is all too much for one person to decide.
“Hey, are you okay?”
I turn around to find Ingram, concern written in his features.
“Not exactly.”
He feels my forehead with the back of his hand.
“You don’t have a fever.”
“No, it’s not that. What I saw today…”
Ingram nods.
“Too much?”
“Yeah.”
“You don’t have to watch, Kate. It’s not important.”
I take his hand and lead him to the bed.
“I don’t mean the torture. It’s everything. We have to stop all this. We have to go to the authorities and let them all sort it out.”
Ingram’s mouth hangs open, brows scrutinizing me.
“We can’t do that. They won’t touch Anton. He’ll buy his way out.”
“No,” I say. “Not this time. The Masters are dead — they can’t help him. We have testimony that he tried to buy weapons in Saudi Arabia! He kidnapped women and brought them here! He threatened to kill Brendan and John if I didn’t do as he said. He imprisoned me in my own home! We can put him away for life.”
“Are you sure of that?” Ingram asks, getting up to pace around. “You won’t necessarily be a reliable witness. People might not believe you — or the other women, or Nasir.”
“They’d believe you,” I say. “If you were willing to testify.”
He’d have to admit his own culpability. That could go badly — for him.
“Not without a deal,” he replies. “I’m not sacrificing my freedom for a chance at sending Anton to jail. We’re going to put him down and be done with it.”
“It’s wrong. The whole world will be affected by what we’ve done. There’s too much riding on this. We can’t be the sole arbiters of what happens. That’s what the Masters did. If we do this, we’re no better than them.”
“The Masters did what they wanted for their own benefit. We’re doing this for your benefit, Kate — you and all the others who were wronged by the Masters.”
“We don’t have to do it this way,” I argue. “We can do the right thing!”
“No. Playing by the rules allowed the Masters to reign for decades” says Ingram. “Look at what we built! Look at what we could do! We worked the system so that none of us would ever suffer the consequences of our actions, even if we did get caught. We can’t count on it working with Anton. We have to assume it won’t. The only justice he’ll ever face will be what we do to him.”
I groan as my head starts to throb.
What if Ingram’s right?
When I took down Victor Sovereign, it was the first time in ages that a Master fell by the actions of an outsider — and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. They protected each other too well — but now they can’t.
“Hardt,” I say. “If Hardt confesses to everything, the world will believe him. He’s got no reason to lie — and he can get revenge on Anton for killing Colette. We’d be doing the right thing, the right way — and we’d get what we want.”
Ingram looks up and rubs his chin.
