“I’m not fevermad.”
“We’ll see.” Lehrer turned away from him now, focusing his gaze out the tinted window at the city that slid by outside, and left Noam to tilt his head against the back seat and count how many more days he could get away with this.
Whether it was still even worth it at all.
Video footage stolen from the offices of the Psychiatric Associates of Carolinia.
INT. DR. GLEESON’S OFFICE
Dr. Gleeson sits behind his desk, reading glasses perched on his nose, examining a file. He lifts his head at a knock on the door, but before he can rise, the door swings open, and another man enters.
Gleeson stands quickly, both hands braced atop his desk.
GLEESON: Mark? What are you doing here? Why—
Gleeson must have found the answer in Mark’s mind, because he goes visibly pale. An instant later Mark draws a gun from the back of his jeans and points it at Gleeson.
GLEESON: Mark. Put down the gun.
Mark says nothing. His hand visibly shakes as his thumb pulls back the hammer.
GLEESON: You don’t have to do this, Mark, you ...
MARK: He told me to.
GLEESON: Who? (A beat later.) Calix? Calix told you to kill me?
MARK: I have to.
GLEESON: Mark. Mark, listen to me: he’s trying to frame you, don’t—
Mark pulls the trigger. A gunshot explodes, loud enough the audio crackles. Gleeson’s body falls back against his chair, blood splattering his shirt and the window glass.
Mark stands there for a moment, staring at Gleeson’s corpse and breathing thickly enough his shoulders heave with each inhale. Then he lifts the gun, as if in a trance, and shoves the barrel into his mouth. He shoots himself.
The film continues, fixed on this silent scene, for another ten minutes before the bodies are found.
CHAPTERTWENTY-SIX
DARA
Ames woke slowly, a dull, pained hum escaping her lips.
Dara abandoned his book, tossing it aside on the bed without thinking to mark his place. Ames blinked her eyes open, blurry gaze skimming the unfamiliar room before fixing on Dara and going sharp.
“Where am I? Shirazi ... what the hell did you do?”
“I’m sorry, Ames.” He gripped the edge of the bed with both hands, wishing he could reach for her but not quite daring to. “We couldn’t take the risk.”
Her mouth tightened, but she didn’t deny it. Didn’t admit it, either—although knowing Lehrer, he’d ordered her not to tell them the truth. And for a moment Dara almost thought she was angry, that Lehrer had pushed his persuasion so deep he’d convinced her she actuallywantedthis.
But the glint in her eyes wasn’t rage. With her hands bound, she couldn’t brush away the tear that escaped down her cheek or hide the way she shuddered when she took a breath.
“He’s an asshole,” she said at last, voice coming out tight and low.
“I think that’s been established,” Dara agreed. He slid closer to the edge of the bed and at last reached out to touch the barest tips of his fingers to her knee. “We’ll figure this out. I promise. Noam’ll be back from Texas any day now—he was able to get Lehrer out of his head somehow. He’ll get Lehrer out of yours too.”
He tried to sound more certain than he was.
