“That’s not true. I told you, I had no idea he was even in Arizona, much less that he’d made contact with you under false pretenses. When he came to me after the mess he made with those bikers, he was desperate. He was pretending like he’d planned it all, but it was clear he hadn’t. He’d lost you, and he was on the run, and he knew that both of you would be in serious trouble if I didn’t step in right away.”
“You put me under constant surveillance. You allowed him to watch my every move.”
“No, I watched your every move, because you were a miracle, Charlotte, and even you knew it. Because the drug was working for the first time, and on top of that, you seemed determined to actually use it. As for your surveillance, I fed him only what I wanted him to see, which was almost nothing. I also kept law enforcement from following a trail from that biker massacre to your uncle Marty’s front door in Altamira. Right now Dylan’s holed up in a shack outside of Tucson under constant surveillance, and he’ll be there for the rest of his natural life if I so choose. Or someplace worse.”
“He said I had to perform. He said I had to put on a show for all of you. He said you were so rich and powerful there was no outrunning you.”
“He was wrong, and I’m here to tell you how.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I’m here to tell you how to make us all go away, if that’s what you want. If that’s truly what you want. I’m here to do the thing Dylan didn’t do in Arizona.”
“What’s that?”
“Give you a choice.”
“I’m listening.”
“What you did tonight, it was remarkable. It required a level of bravery unlike any I’ve ever seen. And if you would like to keep doing it, I can make that happen. I can make it happen in a much safer and more controlled way. I can provide the support and the tools you need to remove all the kinks, shall we say, in tonight’s operation, so that you can take some of the worst human monsters out of circulation for all time.”
“And what do you get out of it?”
“You would, in essence, of your own free will, become our test subject. But in that capacity, we would treat you with the utmost care and respect, provided you followed certain guidelines.”
“Such as?”
“Extensive medical testing after each use of the drug. Allowing yourself to be monitored as well. When you’re not pursuing a subject like Pemberton, your life would be your own. Altamira. Marty. Luke. The new resort that’s set to open soon. I imagine there will be employment opportunities there. For all three of you. If you’re interested.”
Because you own the place now, she thinks.
“And what about Dylan? Will I be working with him?”
“Not directly, no.”
“But what’s the point? What will the testing be for?”
“The goals remain the same.”
“You’re gonna find a way to sell this drug? To make it work in everyone? That’s insane.”
“Of course not. The goal will be a stable, restrained, marketable version of Zypraxon that will do nothing more than inhibit those elements of the panic response that are counterproductive to survival mechanisms in populations at risk of being exposed to severe violence.” He seems comforted by this string of buzzwords and marketing speak; he smiles wistfully, like a man who’s just recounted a fond memory of his hometown. “The goal will be a drug that could have saved your mother’s life.”
“You’re gonna start marketing a drug that allows women to rip men in half?”
“Stable. Restrained. It won’t happen overnight. It will be years before we get there. But with you, we’re closer than we’ve ever been. And I imagine the breakthroughs along the way will be considerable. To say nothing of the women whose lives will be saved by your work before then. How many more masks do you think Pemberton would have made if you hadn’t stopped him tonight?”
“I don’t actually know what you’ve done with him, so he could still end up making more.”
“One thing at a time, Charley.”
“OK. And the other choice?” she asks.
“Walk away. And we all pretend the last week or so never happened. I might keep some tabs on you, but only to make sure you aren’t sharing too extensively about our time together. But your life will be your own, albeit . . . a little less exciting than if you had chosen to work with us.”
“You’d let me just walk away after everything you told me?”
“After everything you’ve done, for sure, Charley.” She can’t tell if he’s referring to her so-called bravery or the multiple hacks Bailey’s committed on her behalf.
“OK. And Dylan?”
“He would have to die.”
At first she thinks his gentle, conciliatory smile is a sign he’s kidding, but as it fades and his eye contact doesn’t waver, she realizes he’s absolutely serious. For the next few seconds there’s only the muffled chop of the rotary blades overhead as the helicopter swings back to the west.
“You’re serious?” she asks.
“Yes.”
“So if I refuse to work with you, you’ll let me go back to my life, but you’re gonna . . . what? Hunt Dylan down and shoot him?”
“It’ll be more elegant than that, but that’s the basic idea, yes.”
Everything else the man has said to her tonight has felt clinical, rehearsed down to the last word, but there’s something in his expression now that seems raw and electric. She wonders if she had a similar look in her eyes when she snapped Pemberton’s wrist. He’s out for some kind of revenge, and he’s using her to do it.
“Why?” she asks.
“Why? He gave you a drug without your knowledge that might have caused you to tear yourself apart.”
“You don’t care about me. You don’t even know me.”
“For two years, he developed that drug with my complete support. That makes me responsible for you.”
“Right, but if you were so outraged by what he’d done, why not kill him the minute he told you?”
“I wanted to see if he was telling the truth.”
“You didn’t need him alive to see that. You could have just followed me like you did.”
He nods. He’s surveying her. Maybe if she wasn’t capable of bashing his head in, he’d have her killed for speaking this kind of truth to him. Maybe he’s just that kind of guy. Maybe that’s how he got his own helicopter.
“Forgive me, Charley, for the speech I’m about to make. And let me qualify it by saying I really do believe that all people are created equal, even if a fair amount of them go to shit not long after they’re created. But you need to know this.
“I’m not like you. I’m not like anyone you know, and I’m not like anyone you will ever meet. I sit at the head of a company that will make more money in the next five minutes than most people would be able to earn in ten lifetimes. The products that I deliver to the world save thousands of lives every minute, all over the planet. And the development and manufacture of those products, products that people now demand at the drop of a hat for almost nothing, comes at a cost those same people cannot bring themselves to examine. It’s my job to deliver those products while concealing that cost at all times. That’s my duty. That’s what I go to bed with every night.