An Eighty Percent Solution (CorpGov) (50 page)

This fired through the tiny body
of people
like a taser
.
Murmurs loud enough to drown out the water rippled through the staff
.

“Please let me go on
,
because our time is limited
.”
In respect, the group settled and quieted
.
“
Along the same vein, I’ve been hiding a secret and can’t
postpone sharing
.
I really shouldn’t
have hid it this long anyway
.
As some of you may have guessed
,
I am also ill with this disease.”

“NO!” three people shouted in unison, jumping up from their seats.

“Please, hush,” Sonya said, using both of her hands
to wave
them back to their
places
.
“Denying the obvious
won’t
change the outcome
.
I’ve been holding off the
ravages of this
with my
own force of will
, but that hasn’t changed the fact that I am dying
.”

This time four people jumped from their seats
,
but refrained from any verbal outburst
.
She watched as
Tony
turned his head away, failing
to cover the tears dripping down his cheeks with one hand
.
He snuffled and tried to put up a brave face, but the bright red streaked
circles around his eyes
spoke volumes
.
A vain part of herself felt gratified that not even Christine’s eyes exempted themselves from at least welling up with tears
.

“My liver has been
severely
compromised and it is only a matter of time
.
I suspect I have between one and two weeks left
.
I’ll
last as long as I can for the good of our cause
.
This
brings us to the obvious requirement
of
choosing
my replacement.

“But, before we get to that, I don’t want anyone accusing me of skewing the outcome
of picking a successor
before I release the piece of news that will shock you all
.”

Puzzlement didn’t quite replace grief on some of the faces lifted up toward her
.
The question in their minds etched itself in their non-verbal communication
—
how
can she shock us after telling us she is going to die?

“This message is the reason I’ve violated our
long
-
standing rules of
having
outsiders,” she pointed back at the hired bodyguards, “and using a meeting place twice
.”

She hesitated, gathering her strength before continuing.
“Research discovered patient zero, the means by which we have all been attacked
.
Before I reveal this person I have to emphasize what I just said
:
‘the means
.
’
Please do not confuse the source with the
intent
.”
Sonya paused.

“Who is it?”
someone demanded.

Sonya gave a tiny nod to the guards, who sauntered down into the audience to flank the person, to
even
his surprise
.
His eyes questioned hers and then his shoulders fell at the response.

“Tony Sammis.”

Every eye turned on him
.

“I don’t expect this can be a bad joke, can it?”
Tony asked
.

“I’m sorry, my friend, but no
.
I ensured all tests were run thrice
.
Only I knew the random identity codes for each of the blood samples
.”

“It seems I’ve been a fool,” he said quietly
.

The room exploded in a mishmash of conversations, most
of them
yelled
.
All the while
she experienced Tony’s eyes locked on hers
.
She read a wealth of communication
in those
guileless eyes
.
Her faith
in his innocence
restored itself.

“I told you we should
’
ve vaped him!”

“He’s killing Sonya
.
T
hat
must’ve
been his real mission
!
”

“With all the help he’s given us, we are so close!”

“We’re close, al
l
right…close to extinction
!
”

“No,
I meant
winning
,
you nitwit.”

“How did that corpie know Tony’s name?”

“How could he have done this
?”

One voice finally cut through the rest with the power of a bull in rage.
“SHUT UP!” Andrew wavered as he stood
defiantly
.
“Now sit the fark down
.”
Slowly
,
the group settled
.
“I know why Sonya did this
.
Think about it, people
.
If she hadn’t
told us
,
we
would’ve
overwhelmingly voted Tony in as our next leader
.
Am I right
?”

A few grudging and a few enthusiastic agreements
answered him
.

“You should know I’ve got this farking disease,” he
went on,
using one hand to hold himself upright
.
Andrew’s normally swarthy skin paled to the color of a
pear’
s flesh
.
“Yes, that’s right
.
I was hoping
it’s
just a cold, but now I know better
.
I’ve got a rash covering about half my body and a high fever, so I’m probably dead already.

“All that being said, you need to think about this long and hard before you decide to pass judgment
.
I still believe in Tony
.
I don’t think he
could’ve
done this knowingly
.”

More than one person tried to speak next
.
Sonya silenced them all by starting to talk quietly
.

“I agree
with Andrew
.
Some of you know of my skills
and capabilities
.
They all
tell me that
he’s
not the culprit here, but rather a victim himself.”

“Why isn’t HE sick?”
someone demanded.

“Why kill off your weapon?” Sonya asked
.
“Whoever gave this to him made him immune
.
Worse
,
he’ll
continue to carry this disease, threatening everyone around him for the rest of his life
.
Not so confident
about him being the villain of this piece
now, are you?

“Think on everything you’ve heard here today
.
We’ll
vote next week,” Sonya said weakly
.
“Please go home
.”

Several people glared
at Tony as they left
.
Gregori
glared back
.
Tony seemingly
ignored this byplay, instead
keeping his eyes fixed on
Sonya
.
As the group dispersed, she
flopped
down into the seat next to him with a heavy sigh
.

“Why are things always so hard?”

“You don’t believe…”

“Tony, if I did, I wouldn’t be sitting here with you
.
From what I know with my skills, there are only two options
:
they infected you without your knowledge, or you agreed and they deep
-
hypnoed your memories
.
In either case
,
your current persona is not to blame.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Don’t fret,
it’ll
play out as it will
.”

Tony turned three shades of crimson before turning toward her, his mouth tight and his forehead furrowed
.
“Do you think I give one good
g
oddamn about
becoming the next
leader of the GAM
?”

Sonya stopped herself before answering.
“I don’t know, do you?”

“Fark
,
no!”
His face softened
.
“I worried about losing your trust and faith…and your friendship
.”

She laughed lightly but found it
brought
on a cough that wouldn’t stop
.
For the better part of five minutes she coughed until a thick plug of mucus, tinged in deep red, hit the floor.

“Are you al
l
right
?
Actually
,
that
’
s a silly question.
Sorry
.”

Sonya opted for a smile this time. “I’m as al
l
right as I can be
.
And to get back to your worry…never at any time did I feel you did this deliberately
.
I
’
m proud to be your friend
.

“Before this turns blubbery, I do have to say
I’ve
taken the liberty of booking you into a suite at the Seattle Grand Hilton
.
In the end
,
y
ou don’t want your home known to these two stalwart champions of your safety
,
and I don’t know how this will play out with the rest of the team
,
so you will need their protection
.”

“Thank you.”

“No, thank you
.
Despite everything said, you
’
ve given us hope that we
’
ll win, despite everything
.
May I exact a promise?”

“You have but to ask.”

“Even if this goes badly and our team breaks up, please start another group to finish what
we’re
so near
to accomplishing
.”

Tony sat quietly for nearly a minute
.
“I won’t let your dream
s
die
…
any of them
.”

* * *
 

The holes
still dotted the walls
,
but an enterprising person had
cleaned up the broken debris
.
Tony perched on a director
’
s chair and mopped Suet’s
jade
-
colored
forehead with a cold cloth
.
The artificial skin still needed to perform all the normal functions of what it replaced
.
Sweating profusely, her body desperately tried to lower its core temperature
.
Even from his chair h
e could feel waves of heat roiling off her
, like
a space heater accidentally left on maximum
.

Her tentacles and legs twitched feebly
as they
tested
the Kevlar straps like an outclassed boxer
who
refused to throw in the towel
.
She
regularly
moaned nonsense words in her delirium.

On previous visits
,
Tony
had
brought Cin with him
.
She spent the time circling Suet’s head, licking the overheated ears and head-butting Suet’s tentacles
.
When tired of this
,
Cin would l
ie
between Tony and the patient
,
showing concern with a constant
purr
.
He thankfully didn’t have
the help of his furry friend
on this impromptu trip
.