‘Shut up.’
The words spilled from Stanley’s mouth like poison. He heard his own rage, mixed with regret and frustration and hopelessness.
‘Where is Amber?’ he demanded.
‘She wasn’t found,’ Huck said, quick to inform Stanley that her body had not been recovered. ‘I think that she escaped because only the inhabitants of the commune have been identified from their … ’
Seavers broke off, apparently stunned by what had happened at Nathalie. Stanley sucked in air that filled his lungs but somehow failed to replenish him.
‘I’ll take the money,’ Stanley said.
Huck Seavers looked up at him. ‘What?’
Stanley did not look at the man, keeping his eyes focused on the distant hills.
‘Enough people have died,’ he uttered, barely able to conceive of the terrible course of action he had put into motion. ‘I don’t want anybody else’s deaths on my hands for this, for the device that I built. I don’t want it any more. I don’t want any part of it anymore.’
Huck remained still, his eyes searching Stanley’s face for some sign of deception.
‘I don’t know if they can be trusted,’ he said finally. ‘I don’t know if they’ll honour a promise to leave us be, or if they’ll make any of this simply go away.’
For the first time Stanley began to realize that Seavers himself might actually be what Amber had suggested he was: a pawn, like Stanley, in a dangerous game much bigger than either of them.
‘You got yourself in with them,’ he growled, showing no sign of sympathy. ‘It’s on your hands, all of this. You killed those people, all of them.’
Huck’s head hung low.
‘I needed help to defeat the legal actions piling up against my company,’ Huck said. ‘They had leverage, power, they said they could make the cases go away and they did. But you have to believe me, Stanley — I had no idea that they would do anything like this. None at all. I don’t even know who they are. I tried to find out at Bilderberg, and that’s when they made the threats against my family.’ Huck looked up again at Stanley. ‘Is your wife okay?’
Stanley felt no warmth in Huck Seaver’s concern. ‘A bit late, Seavers, to be worrying about her.’
Seavers bit his lip. ‘Someone once told me that it’s never too late to try to put things right.’
Stanley scowled and finally looked Seavers in the eye.
‘It’s too late for black — hearted cowards like you,’ he snapped. ‘I’ll take the money. One hundred million, all of it sent to accounts I’ve set up.’
Huck’s eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve already set up accounts?’
‘I did it the moment I realized the fusion cage worked,’ Stanley snapped. ‘I’m not an idiot. I wanted to give the device away, but if it couldn’t be done then I wanted to ensure that my family profited from what I’d achieved. It’s called putting others first, Seavers. You should try it one day.’
‘My family come first,’ Huck replied coldly.
‘No negotiations, no discussions,’ Stanley said, ignoring Huck’s last. ‘In return, I’ll cease all work on the fusion cage and I will sign anything to show that I will never again distribute any paperwork, prototypes or other reference material pertaining to the device. If Amber and my wife are harmed in any way, ever, I swear I’ll release everything regardless of what happens to me, understood?’
Huck Seavers nodded slowly.
‘I’ll pass that along. I hope that it will bring these unfortunate events to a close, that we will never have to deal with anything like this again and … ’
‘It will never stop,’ Stanley cut him off. ‘It will never end, because somebody else will discover what I did. Others will know, will come to understand, and one way or another they’ll bring your damned corporations to their knees. I just hope I’m alive to see it, so I can drink champagne and piss on the ashes of your company, Seavers.’
Huck sat for a moment longer, and then he got up and walked away from Stanley and let him watch the sunrise once more in peace.
XXXI
Aaron Mitchell strode off the corporate jet and into the sweltering mid — day heat of a Virginian summer, the sound of aircraft taking off behind him on the distant runway interspersed with a ripple of birdsong in nearby trees as he walked toward a sleek, glossy black limousine parked nearby.
The airport handled flights to Paris in Europe as part of its scheduled service, but Aaron as ever was able to call upon the near — limitless financial power of his employers to travel in corporate luxury. Flying under a local airline’s call sign to further conceal his movements, he had landed only minutes before and was forcing himself to ignore the weariness aching through his bones as he opened the limousine’s door and climbed inside.
The interior of the vehicle was as plush as that of the jet, and he looked into the eyes of Huck Seavers and was surprised to see relief and delight sparkling in the younger man’s eyes.
‘What news?’ he demanded.
‘Meyer folded,’ Huck reported with glee. ‘His price is one hundred million, no questions asked. He’s even set up the accounts. We pay, he vanishes and it’s over.’
Aaron looked down at a piece of paper that Huck handed him, containing account codes for numerous overseas banks.
‘It’s never over,’ he said as he took the paper.
‘That’s what Stanley said,’ Huck admitted. ‘He thinks that somebody else will achieve what he has and carry the torch for him. Whatever.’
‘What guarantees did he demand?’
‘That his family be left alone,’ Huck said. ‘Anything happens to them, he blows it all wide open.’
‘He could do that anyway.’
‘Yes he could,’ Huck agreed, eager to maintain the advantage he had created, ‘but then if that’s what you think then you would have simply killed him anyway, so why even attempt to make an offer through me? It wouldn’t make any sense.’
‘There are many, many things that you do not understand.’
Huck ground his teeth in his skull, suddenly nervous.
‘I did what you asked,’ he said. ‘I got him to sell out. He’s going to hand everything over to us and has promised never to speak of his device ever again, or promote it or anybody else’s work. He’s given up — that’s what you people wanted.’
Aaron stared down at the accounts for a long moment.
‘The money will be transferred to Seavers Incorporated by this afternoon, after which you may pass it on to these accounts.’
Huck’s features fell.
‘That’s not what we agreed! You didn’t say anything about me laundering money for you! If this ever did go public they’d trace the payments right back to me!’
‘You are displeased?’
Aaron’s voice rumbled like boulders tumbling down a cliff as he turned in his seat toward Huck, his eyes dark and foreboding. ‘Perhaps you think that you’re being treated unfairly?’
Huck’s eyes wobbled in their sockets as he retreated in his seat.
‘You’re stacking the odds in your favour and putting me at risk,’ Huck blustered. ‘I can’t face any more public investigations or legal threats!’
‘Then you had best be sure that this deal you have struck with Meyer does not fall through,’ Mitchell warned as he leaned closer. ‘The consequences to Seavers Incorporated might be… fatal.’