The Night Sweeper: Assassin: A Zombie Conspiracy Novel (The Sweeper Chronicles Book 2) (18 page)

She grins and crosses her arms, pleased that I put it
together on my own.

“I guess you can see where this is going. Damian
was working on cloning as part of his experimentation, as well as researching
human, animal, and plant genetics, and during that time, he created The Virus.
But here’s where the public story is skewed. Damian didn’t sell it off
like some kind of arms dealer. That story was fabricated later.”

“Hang on a second. Why did he even create it in
the first place?”

“I’ll get to that, but suffice it to say, he wasn’t
trying to make a biological weapon. Quite the opposite, really.
Problems started happening because the conglomerate was getting restless, each
of them wanting a little more of the pie regarding the things Damian was
working on. Despite their initial cooperation, they were distrustful of each
other. Damian had kept The Virus a secret from them all, or so he
thought, but somebody found out about it and stole it to use as a weapon
against the others.”

“The President,” I say.

“Yes, and no,” she replies. “He gave the order as
far as we know, but he was heavily influenced by someone else. He was
convinced to use it, it seems, by the very man who had been appointed as the
conglomerate’s representative from the U.S.A in Damian’s little venture. It was
this person who discovered The Virus’ existence, stole it from Damian, and was
influential in getting the President to use it. He was also the one who later
blamed the President and lied about Damian selling The Virus to him.
Ready for the punch line? The liaison was Cedric Archer."

She starts to continue, but looks again at Damian and
Graelin. I turn to follow her gaze, but they are no longer at the
terminal. They walk towards us, talking animatedly, arguing.

“But can you really know that for sure?” Graelin says.

“Yes! As sure as I’ve ever been of anything,”
Damian says.

I’ve never seen him this agitated, not even when the
fortress was attacked. They walk up to us and Mira rises. I do the
same, mimicking her movements for no other reason than the fact she stood
up.

But now I see concern on her face as well. “What
is it?” she says.

I feel out of the loop.

“She hacked it all,” Damian says, his tone desperate,
his breathing rapid. Sweat appears on his forehead, and his hands are
shaking.

“What’s going on guys?” I say. My confusion is
turning to fear. Graelin stands off to the side, tears streaming down his
face. “You’re freaking me out.”

Mira ignores my question and responds to Damian.

“We know that,” she says. “We’ll find her.
We’ll find Archer. We’ll make it right.”

But Damian is shaking his head adamantly. “No,
Mira. You don’t understand. She hacked it
all
!”

Suddenly, Mira’s body goes stiff and there’s no
mistaking the look of fear in her eyes.

“We have no time left,” Damian says.

“No! Not this way,” Mira says. “You promised
we would discuss it first! It has to be voluntary!”

“You know what’s at stake.” He looks at Mira with
pitiful earnestness and pleads. “Please!”

She stays frozen several moments, then finally nods
once.

“Okay…” I try again, but Damian cuts me off.

“Son, I’m so sorry for everything. I didn’t want
it to be this way. Forgive me.” He looks to Mira. “Now.”

I’m still watching him; his bizarre behavior and
confession is nonsensical. I’m about to try for the third time when the
shot rings out. His chest caves in, and he slumps to the ground, dead.

Mira stands beside me, her gun extended, the smell of
gunpowder still hanging in the air. I look at her, dumbfounded. I
can’t find words. She lowers the gun slowly.

Graelin sobs and collapses on top of my father, his
screams of heartbreak ringing through the room.

I look at Mira in time to see a single tear trickle
from her left eye. I'm bewildered. I don't see her raise the gun until it's too
late. There's a thunderclap as she fires point blank into my chest. The last
thing I remember is darkness. And cold.