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“I beg to differ.”
He lifted a box from the floor onto the table and opened it, pulling out the container with the fungus. “I believe your current drug is highly effective. But it’s ironic, isn’t it?”
Sydney’s eyes were glued to the container. “I don’t know what you find ironic about a biological weapon.”
“It’s ironic because if you had shared this with us from the beginning, we might have been able to work out a new agreement.”
“I don’t want a new agreement.”
“No? If you had worked with us instead of being difficult, we may have been willing to give your nonprofit friends the rights to your finished drug.”
“By giving you a weapon that can kill thousands of people?” She lifted her chin. “I don’t think that’s an even exchange.”
“Such a waste,” he said to himself. “Look, Sydney, there’s no point arguing about it. What’s done is done.”
Sydney looked at Pallon. “Why did you do this? I trusted you.”
“No, you didn’t,” Pallon said to his hands.
The other man in the room shifted in his seat. “I don’t know if I can take all this melodrama.” His Russian accent was strong. “Can we kill her and get this over with?”
“Sorry, Sydney,” Myles said. “My friend here isn’t as patient as I am. Aleksander, we can give her a couple of minutes. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.”
“I don’t mind taking the time to watch her squirm,” Leo said with a sneer.
Sydney swallowed back her fear as she asked the question she didn’t want to know the answer to.
“So that’s it? Now you’re just going to kill me?”Jesus. I need you.
Myles shrugged. “If we don’t need to kill you, we won’t.”
“What?” Leo said. “Bit late to keep her alive at this point, isn’t it?”
“I’m surprised to hear you say that,” Aleksander said. “When we tried to bring her in the first time, you jumped at the chance to be the one to do it. Said you’d get her easy.”
“That’s because she’ssvoloch. All I did was care for her, but it wasn’t enough, was it, Sydney? I gave you everything, and you treated me like trash. Nothing I ever did for her was enough. But now the tables have turned.” The smile he gave her soured her stomach. She knew that look. She’d seen her dad smile the same way at her mom when he knew she was powerless.
“Settle down, boys,” Myles said. “Sydney, I’d like to make you an offer. You have a brilliant mind. You don’t have to die. You could choose instead to work with us and develop what we need. You’d be better compensated than you could even imagine. You’d have everything. Wealth, fame, everything. But you’d work for us, and we would have access to everything.”
She could have everything, or she could die with nothing.
You could gain the whole world and lose your soul.
She looked at Pallon. All she could feel for him was pity. “Chris. There’s one thing I don’t understand. If you wanted to kill me, why did you organize to keep me protected?”
“I didn’t want you dead,” Pallon said.
“I was there. You definitely tried to kill me.”
“Don’t be too hard on him,” Myles said. “We threatened his family. It was you or his wife and kids.” He laughed. “Dr. Pallon thought he was fully committed when we started this, didn’t you, Doctor? But it turns out he doesn’t have the stomach for it. He liked the size of the check I gave him, but when he got wind of our plans, he lost his nerve.”
“I’m sorry, Sydney,” Pallon said.
“Bit too late for that, old man,” Myles said. “Sydney, I thought you had a lucky escape from your kidnapping until you told me Dr. Pallon organized your protection. I thought it was bad luck on our part.”
“But then who leaked the story to the newspaper?”
“I did,” Pallon said. “I needed a reason to get you protected. It was the best I could think of.”
