Lila planted both feet on his chest and kicked him halfway across the room. As he flailed backward, she yanked a drawer from her desk. The contents spilled out on the floor and clattered to the ground.
Snatching up her Colt, she crab-walked away from him, planting herself in the corner.
La Roux sat down on Lila’s bed and stared.
One hand around her neck, one hand clasped around her gun, she leaned against the wall for support. Lila could hardly believe the cold metal was in her hand now, ready to be used. The wild beast had been brought to heel.
It seemed odd to see him so calm and composed, like what had happened had been some silly mistake, like maybe she had imagined it.
Had she?
Had he meant to kill her?
If so, she’d be dead, wouldn’t she?
An image of dead mercs on a warehouse floor invaded her mind. She no longer regretted those people, just as she wouldn’t have regretted killing La Roux if he still had his hands around her throat, but she couldn’t shoot him now. He wasn’t doing anything but staring back at her with an open mouth. Horrified.
The gun warmed her hand as if it wanted to be used.
Lila did not pull the trigger. Instead, she stayed crouched in the corner. If he tried again, if he lunged at her, she would aim for his head and those vacant eyes.
“You just made me so angry,” he whispered. “I didn’t know that I could get so angry, but you pushed me too much. I just needed…”
“To kill me?” she asked, voice straining.
The senator ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes reddened, but not from madness. “Don’t do this to me,” he pleaded, elbows propped up on his knees. “I’ll be ruined. I’m a good man, Lila, you know that. I don’t deserve this. I just made a mistake.”
Lila did not know what to say, torn between wondering how anyone would think himself good after such an attack and wondering if he might have a point.
When he approached her, instinct took over. She raised the gun to his head, ready to shoot. “Back the fuck away from me, or I’ll unload every single dart into you,” she croaked, throat burning from just a few words.
He took several steps away.
“Chief Shaw is waiting for you downstairs. We’re going to leave now and meet him outside.”
“Lila, say nothing, and I’ll say nothing. Let’s make a deal, a mutually beneficial arrangement,” he said, echoing a phrase he must have used in the senate a thousand times. “Name
your terms. I have money. I could help your family while I’m in Beaulac. Your family’s oil rigs—”
“This isn’t a business deal,” Lila said in disgust. Her need to talk was more than the pain it caused, and the roughness in her voice grated on her ears. “You’ve committed treason and attempted murder.”
“It wasn’t like that. Damn it, Lila. It’s not like I used what I learned to profit in some business deal, not like the others. I didn’t turn anything over to a foreign power. I’m like you. I punished those who broke into BullNet.”
“Is that it?”
“I’m not some murdering psychopath. I wouldn’t have even hurt you if you hadn’t—”
“Caught you?”
Lila stood up with some effort and backed away to the door.
“Look, I can help—”
She cocked the gun, and the senator closed his mouth.
“My scarf,” she ordered, her voice clawing at her throat.
While La Roux fetched a scarf from her closet, Lila retrieved her red woolen coat. She put it on, thrusting one arm and then the other into its sleeves, all while keeping her gun trained on the senator’s head. After he tossed her the scarf, she wound it around her neck, hoping that all signs of their struggle were hidden from view.