Jax kept his expression stoic. “I know everything.”
“Good. Going forward, we have to be honest with each other. The president was weak, desperate, and he was hurting the nation. He’d put our soldiers at great risk, and somebody smarter needed to step up.” Sorrow, deep and glimmering, filled Atherton’s eyes. “I reacted quickly and without any finesse, trying to protect my country.” His gaze narrowed. “What would you have done?”
Jax didn’t flinch. “I don’t know,” he said honestly.
“Now I have to live with what I did, but all I can do is go forward from here. I wasn’t quite right after the fever for a while. You know?”
Jax nodded. He still didn’t feel like himself. “Lynne is afraid of you. Thinks you want to hurt her.”
Atherton’s head jerked back. He blew out air. “I guess I don’t blame her, but shit, that hurts.” He turned and looked out the window. “If I stay away from her, just communicate through intermediaries, do you think she’ll come back to work for the government to head research? We need her. Bad.”
“I don’t know. How about you give me the USB drive, and we find out?” Jax asked.
Atherton shook his head. “No. You have to understand that I need to consolidate and keep the research, right?”
Yeah. It’s what Jax would do. “No. If I can get it to Lynne Harmony, then you should give it up.”
Atherton lifted his chin, blue eyes glittering with questions. “I’ll rephrase the language, but Cruz said you and Lynne have started a relationship.”
Jax lifted an eyebrow and forced a half-smile. “Cruz makes shit up.”
Atherton studied him for several moments, and Jax returned the stare without blinking. “She’s a beautiful woman,” Atherton said slowly.
Jax shrugged even though his heart started to pound against his rib cage. “I’m more interested in her brain,” he said. “Other than that, I don’t have time for entanglements.”
“Smart. In your position, you can’t afford to be manipulated by emotion.” Atherton steepled his fingers under his chin. “Even though I have feelings for Lynne and have for quite some while, I’m not blind to her brilliance or ability to manipulate people. One can’t get to her position in life at such a young age without having those abilities.”
Jax tried to look bored. Was Atherton just reminiscing, or was he trying to mess with Jax’s brain? Either way, enough. “You said you had medical supplies and food.”
“I do.” Atherton leaned forward. “Any chance you’ll trade Lynne for both? I can give you enough to sustain your entire group for two years.”
Two years? That’d be enough time to hang tight, let the gangs kill each other off, and plan for the move north. Trade her? “You’d take her unwillingly?”
Atherton sighed. “No. I want her willing to help. But how can I talk to her, convince her that my initial response after the fever wasn’t me and that I’ve changed, if she keeps running from me? If I could just talk to her, I could explain.”
Jax eyed the guards standing at attention. “I don’t know you, and I don’t trust you. However, I’m not sure there’s anybody better waiting in the wings to lead the country right now.” He slowly stood. “I actually don’t have Lynne Harmony, but I know where she is.”
Atherton blinked. “She’s not with your group?”
“No. We traded her for weapons and ammunition, including land mines and grenades.” Jax lifted a shoulder. “I don’t have the laboratory resources necessary to use her knowledge, and weapons are more useful to me than the former head of the CDC infectious diseases department, blue heart or not.”
Atherton’s nostrils flared. “Then where is she?”
Jax smiled as he lied his ass off. “I’ll reach out and then be back in touch with you. If I’m able to get her, or rather the folks who have her, are willing to work with you, I expect compensation.”
Atherton stood, his gaze darkening. “You have twenty-four hours to reach out, and then I’ll go find her myself, and I’ll start with dismantling your community, just to make sure.”
Was the president pissed because he’d lost Lynne, or was he actually angry Lynne had been traded somewhere else? The guy was impossible to read.
Atherton gestured toward the door. “You’re dismissed. And, Mercury? If Lynne has been harmed because of your actions, I’ll put a bullet in your head myself.”
“Fair enough.” Jax shoved open the door and reached the truck without mishap, driving nearly a mile before catching sight of Raze waiting by the road. Was the man even human?
Raze jumped inside, and Jax gave him and Ernie a rundown of the meeting.
“Did you see anybody besides soldiers around?” Raze asked quietly.
Jax glanced his way. “No. Why?”
“Just asking.” Raze kept his gaze outside the window.
“Someday you’re going to level with me,” Jax returned.
Ernie snorted. “Neither one of you is an open book, you know.”
Jax swerved to avoid a partially decomposed body in the middle of the road. “Lake wasn’t here, and that concerns me.”
“You’d think meeting you would be of top importance. If Lake isn’t here, then something bigger is going on.” Raze kept his gun pointed out the window. “What now?”
Now? Now Jax needed to talk to Lynne and feel her out. Atherton had admitted the killing, and he might still be the best bet to run the country. And Lynne had forgotten to mention a few details. “If I don’t at least get Lynne in touch with Atherton, he’s sending soldiers our way.” The last thing in the world Jax wanted was to fight the legitimate U.S. military, considering he was army himself. “We don’t have much time.”
He hadn’t considered that his meeting with the president might result in having to choose between his duty and his woman. Where would that leave Vanguard? The people who trusted him, who needed food and medical supplies? “This sucks,” he muttered.
“True that,” Raze returned, his focus remaining on point outside the window. “Either way, we’d better get prepared for war.”
Jax eyed the area for threats. “I’ve been doing that ever since Scorpius hit.” Now he had even more to lose.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Courage is facing a fear down, even when the sight burns.
—Dr. Franklin Xavier Harmony
Lynne tried to concentrate after Jax had been gone for nearly an hour. Bret was smooth and charismatic, and he knew how to lie. Would Jax believe him? God, she hoped not.
She finished reading through the Myriad files, her mind spinning. “They were on to something.” Her heart began to beat rapidly against her rib cage. “This experiment, the blue one, has serious possibilities.”
Tace glanced up from across the small lab, his gaze focusing. “So it’s still looking good?”
“Yes,” she murmured, standing and crossing the empty room. “I was right—Myriad was a huge payoff. There’s data about permanent B as well as pregnancy protection, but I’m not sure how far they took the research. But this is great.”
Tace stilled. “Do we still need your earlier research?”
“If possible.” Her shoulders slumped. “No way will Bret give that up.”
Tace patted her arm. “Jax can be very persuasive.”
Yeah, but Bret was bat-shit crazy. “I know, b—” An explosion ripped through the peaceful day, jolting the building. Lynne grabbed on to the counter to keep from falling. Papers and a couple of vials rocked to the floor.
Tace yanked the gun from his leg holster and started for the door. “Stay here.”
Lynne fumbled for the gun stuck in the back of her waist and tripped behind him. They were down Jax and Raze, so another gun wouldn’t hurt, as long as she stayed out of the way. “Do you think it’s Twenty again?”
Sami ran from the rec room, gun in hand, eyes wild. “Sounded like it came from east of headquarters.”
People screamed, soldiers geared up, and civilians rushed kids down the stairs to the basement. Tace nodded grimly. “Lynne, you stay behind the door. If it’s Twenty, they know you’re here and want you.”