A Necessary Kill (33 page)

“I know everything there is to know about GlobaTech Industries, Adrian. They will fail. Trust me.”

“Okay, what about North Korea? Do they have any idea you’ve asked them to publicly poke a bear purely so they can get bitten?”

Cunningham smiles but says nothing.

“No, of course you haven’t… It’s El-Zurak all over again, isn’t it? They think this is a partnership, but you’re using them to show the world that
you’re
the only logical choice moving forward. You want to be handed this planet on a silver platter, to mold it as you see fit. You’re a fucking psychopath! And coming from me, that’s saying something.”

“You have it all worked out, it seems.”

“Yeah, you can thank your old friend, General Matthews, for that.”

“Yes… his involvement was unfortunate but ultimately irrelevant. It won’t change anything.”

I smile. “You seem pretty sure about that…”

“Oh, I am. You see, the way I figure it, you wouldn’t have walked in here without some contingency in place. Credit where it’s due, Adrian, you’re a smart man. You would have made sure the evidence Matthews gave you was made public in some way, if you don’t get out of here. Or maybe even if you do, I’m not sure. But, obviously, I can’t allow that. So, here’s the thing—you make the call right now to stop that evidence going wherever you intend it to go, and I won’t use Cerberus to destroy your bar, your town, and the woman you love.” He picks up the desk phone receiver and holds it out to me. “Sound fair?”

I need a minute.

It’s funny, isn’t it, how sometimes the scale of something can be so big it becomes lost on you… like the size of it is simply too massive to comprehend. Take the speed of light, for example. It’s something ridiculous, like nine hundred eighty
million
feet per second. That’s some distance on its own. I think it’s the equivalent of traveling the entire circumference of the planet seven times. But when you think light travels that distance every second, it suddenly becomes just a number, with all meaning and scale lost because you can’t wrap your head around how something could possibly move that fast.

That’s how I feel right now.

I’m face-to-face with the man who is literally trying to take over the planet, but that’s a meaningless statement. All I can think about is two people in a small town in Texas. I can’t help myself. Despite knowing the fate of billions is probably hanging in the balance, resting solely on the outcome of this conversation, I’m standing here thinking only about Tori Watson and John Raynor—my girlfriend, and the sheriff of the town I call home.

She’s only the second woman I’ve ever loved. And he was a good friend who put his ass on the line for me, and trusted me, when he had no reason to. I owe them both.

Tori... I can’t lose her.

But I’ve already lost her, haven’t I? Because I know I’m not walking away from this… I’ll never see her again.

Besides, the priority is stopping Cunningham. If he succeeds, the world will be nothing more than a dictatorship.

Though, while that world would suck, at least she would be alive to see it…

But is that a life worth living? Is it a life worth sacrificing?

I feel my Inner Satan stand next to me and put a friendly arm around my shoulder. I glance to my right, as if seeing a person no one else can see.

Adrian, my man… You know what you gotta do, right?

I nod to myself. Yeah… I know.

You and me… we’re a team now, you hear me? I’m not the Hulk to your Bruce Banner anymore. Together, we’re what King Kong is to the Empire fucking State Building! You understand? He didn’t just tear through the lobby, he scaled the side… focused on taking out the whole thing. See what I’m saying here?

I smile. I bet I sound crazy, right? Well… sometimes sanity just doesn’t cut it.

“Everything alright, Adrian?”

I take a deep breath, treasuring every ounce of oxygen that flows into my lungs as if it’s my last. “Yes, sir, Mr. President. Everything’s peachy.”

“So, what’ll it be?”

I stroke my chin thoughtfully. “It’s a no-brainer, Charlie…”

He smiles.

I smile back.

After a moment, I’m still smiling, whereas his starts to fade, giving way to uncertainty. He won’t understand why I seem so calm and relaxed. But I’m that way because I know what I need to do, and smiling while I do it will stop me from screaming.

“Fuck you, Mr. President, and the horse you rode in on… That evidence is staying right where it is.” I nod at the laptop. “So go ahead, fire that missile. I fucking dare you.”

He hesitates, his brow furrowing with indecisiveness. He doesn’t believe me. I can see it in his eyes. It’s the look a poker player has when he believes his cards are better than the guy who’s just raised the stakes. He doesn’t think I would sacrifice someone I care about so quickly. And usually, he would be right. But these circumstances are far from usual, and I’m trying my best to remain objective, to keep my focus on the bigger picture.

Plus, I have a plan. I think…

“You do realize I’m not bluffing, don’t you?” he asks me after a moment. “This isn’t an empty threat. This
needs
doing, and, yes, while I could theoretically target anywhere in the United States, it makes more sense to use this situation to its full potential and break
you
at the same time.”

This gun hasn’t left my temple since I kicked down the door. The seven pairs of eyes along the right wall remain fixed on me. The two assholes near the sofas look relaxed, comfortable… confident. Cunningham looks like he believes he’s in control.

I don’t know how I look to everyone else, but I know how I feel inside.

I feel like… Adrian Hell!

I whip my left arm up and back, ducking slightly as I deflect the gun away from my head. I step around the agent next to me, putting my left arm under his chin and around his throat as I grab his wrist with my right, controlling the gun. I’m a little taller than he is, so I crouch slightly, hiding as best I can behind him.

No one’s reacted yet. I reckon I have maybe three more seconds before they do.

I drag this guy backward by his throat, moving as fast as possible around the desk to stand next to the president.

Three seconds. They know what I’m doing. They’re taking aim…

I squeeze tightly with my left arm. I feel him loosen his grip on the gun. Which is what I was waiting for. I slide it from his hand in a swift, practiced motion and let go of him, throwing a quick, short elbow to the back of his head as I arc the gun clockwise. I’m close enough now that I hold my arm out and place the barrel against Cunningham’s temple at the exact moment he spins the laptop around, sits down, and places his finger over the Enter key.

I’m standing at an angle, looking at him and most of the room. I can see the open door and the right corner in my peripheral vision. “If anyone moves, he dies before I do. We clear?” I shout.

The agents hesitate and glance at their commander-in-chief, who gives the slightest of nods, ordering them to stand down.

I gesture to the laptop. “Now, I can only assume that pressing that button launches the missile. Am I right?”

Cunningham nods, leaning slightly away from me under the pressure of the gun.

“Okay, if you press that button, you’ll be dead a second later. That’s not a bluff or an empty threat. I don’t do those things, either. I will blow your fucking head off if you so much as think about that laptop again, you understand me?”

He nods again, his eyes appearing calm and collected. “Surely your intention is to kill me anyway?”

“I thought about it, I’ll be honest. I’ve thought about shooting you pretty much exclusively for the last two weeks. But Matthews told me it wouldn’t make a difference. Not now. And believe it or not, my priority is to prevent North Korea from doing any more damage, not to settle the score with someone who isn’t fit to breathe the same air as me.”

Out the corner of my eye I see the agent on the far right shuffle to his left. A very subtle movement, but I saw it. He’ll be trying to widen their coverage of the room, make it harder for me to defend myself.

Uh-uh.

I bring the gun around and fire once, shooting from the hip, not bothering to aim. At this range, I’m never going to miss… The bullet catches the agent center mass in the middle of his chest. He falls backward from the impact, and I snap the gun back against Cunningham’s head. He winces as the heat from the barrel hisses on his face.

The other agents react slowly, taking a collective step forward and raising their weapons a few seconds after their colleague hits the floor. The men by the sofas gasp and take a step back, looking less comfortable than they had when I got here.

“Hey, hey, hey! Back off!” I press the gun hard against Cunningham’s temple. “Tell them!”

He looks over at them, silently instructing the remaining agents to stand down again.

“That’s right, do as your master says, boys. Now, Charlie, I gotta ask… Why are you doing this? I get that you wanna change the world, make it a better place, blah blah blah, but you did that in your first six months in office. Crime was down, drug crime was nonexistent. There were more jobs, better health care—hell, you could get high, or laid, and no one would give a shit. You were doing everything right, and it was working. Why go to all this trouble to tear it all down?”

He looks across at the men standing by the sofas, who I notice are now standing up straight like they’re proud fathers. He strokes a hand across his chin, as if choosing his words carefully. Ever the politician.

I notice his other hand stays hovering over the laptop.

“Adrian, quite frankly, you lack the mental capacity to understand why this is happening. You don’t see things the way I do. You don’t appreciate the scope of a situation. All you see is the end of your gun, whereas I look miles beyond the target.”

“Do yourself a favor and try not to patronize me, alright? You think you’re safe in this room right now? You think you can relax because you’ve got six armed Secret Service agents with you?”

He shrugs and smiles.

I don’t like how confident he is. Let’s do something about that…

In the same fluid, expert movement as before, I aim the gun and fire once, hitting the agent on the far left of the room in the face. The bullet strikes just above the right side of the jaw, shattering his mandible in two. His head snaps back violently as one half flies away, spraying a thin trail of blood in the air. It hits the far wall beneath the portrait of a former president. The other half is still attached but hanging loose. The agent is dead before he hits the floor.

Straightaway the gun’s back against Cunningham’s forehead. “Sorry,
five
agents… Are you starting to see where this is going?”

The rest of the agents are getting twitchy, and I can understand how hard it must be for them to ignore their instincts and obey an order they don’t agree with.

“Okay… okay. I’ll tell you, Adrian. I’d like you to understand why I’ve done this, I really would. But before I do, I need you to know that you’ve got me all wrong. You see, I’m not a coward. I’m the president of the United States. I’ve dedicated my life to making sure these events unfold exactly as they are. Years and years of meticulous planning and strategy have been poured into this.”

“What do you want? A fucking medal?”

“Not at all. I’m not doing this for recognition, despite what you might think. I’m doing this because it’s what the people
need
.”

“And who are you to decide what’s best for everyone?”

“Adrian, I’m the president. It’s why I was elected.”

“Yeah, you’re the president of
this
country… not the entire world! You can’t just enforce your ideals on everyone because you think you’re right. Did you not pay attention in history class? It never works. And the people who try it end up dead.”

He smiles. “History simply teaches us if you start with nothing, that’s exactly what you’ll end up with. Hitler… Stalin… even bin Laden… The problem they had was that they started trying to—how did you put it—
enforce their ideals
at the same time they were rising to power. That never works because the people who would object to a leader’s beliefs can see him growing. They can simply monitor him and step in when they need to. There is no surprise, no shock—they just prepare for the day when they would inevitably have to stop him. But me… I rose to power first. Only then did I start to implement my plan for a new, better world. I started when I was already in charge, so the things I’m trying to do are more easily accepted. See, it’s easy to stop someone from running for the throne when you’re running alongside them, Adrian. But it’s much harder to approach that throne when they’re already sitting on it surrounded by their kingdom.”

I raise an eyebrow. My arm and shoulder are starting to ache a little from holding this gun to his head for so long. But I’m not moving it.

“Huh… did you, like, write that little speech beforehand? Have you been rehearsing it every day in case you get a chance to reel off your bullshit to someone? You’re a whole other level of crazy, Chuck. You’d be better off in Stonebanks…”

“Actually, I think we’re a lot alike, you and me. We’re both smart, we’re both driven. We’re also very instinctual. I’m somewhat of a gambling man. I go with my gut when I need to, just like you. Like now, for example. You’ve shot two members of my security detail. Rather impressively, I might add. But I don’t think you’ll shoot me. In the same way you’ve thought that flash drive around your neck would keep you alive this whole time, I think you’re banking on staying safe while you have a gun to my head. But you’re wrong, because I
am
prepared to die for my cause. I will not let anything or anyone stop me. Not now. And I will not be threatened by the likes of you. So tell me, Adrian Hell, what do you intend to do… now!”

He holds my gaze and smiles as he presses the Enter key.

21:27 EDT

No… He can’t have… He’s… Tori is… I have to…

“No!” I yell out, watching the screen in horror.

My arm drops to my side and everything around me fades away. The gray image in front of me still shows the quiet, dusty road running through the center of the town I’ve called home for the last two-and-a-bit years.