“I waited too late, didn’t I?” Rubio’s words rushed together as though she had been drugged. “I should have returned yesterday to finish the job while I still had the chance.”
“Is that so?” Lila crept forward slowly. Several cameras had been trained on the garage. If she could get Rubio into their path holding a gun, then whoever was watching the feeds would alert the nearest patrol.
“Stop. I told you. Don’t move.” The doctor stepped out from behind the tree, gaze flicking up to the roof of the garage, to the door behind Lila, to the darkness beyond. “The militia came to our condo. I saw them.”
“Yes, you were to be detained for helping my sister poison her fiancé. I see now that you should be detained for other reasons entirely.”
“Why couldn’t you have asked me about Senator Dubois before you went under? I could have given you too much anesthesia. I could have made a mistake in my work. There are so many ways a person can die when they’re in surgery. So many accidents can happen.”
“It’s never an accident when a prime dies in surgery,” Lila pointed out, her fingers twitching. Rubio had not moved. She’d have to depend on her Colt to save her. Perhaps she could draw it before the doctor had a chance to get off a round. “Do you honestly think you would have survived an investigation? Killing me wouldn’t have saved you.”
“I would have risked it.”
“Like you’re risking it now? Commander Sutton already knows what you did. Do you think the charges are automatically—”
“I heard the militia talking over their radios. Commander Sutton doesn’t know why she’s detaining me. I have a chance to get away after you’re gone.”
“Your bullet will draw every militia—”
“It’s not a bullet. It’s a poisoned tranq. I learned my lesson last time. You’ll be dead before anyone finds you, and I’ll be gone.”
Her hand kept shaking.
But she didn’t pull the trigger.
Lila’s fingers weren’t any steadier. She was a fast draw and accurate, but the woman across from her didn’t need to be faster or more accurate. She only needed one little prick upon her skin. Anywhere would do. Lila had moved far too close already, just trying to back Rubio into the path of a camera.
Even a poor shot like the good doctor could hit her with ease.
“Here I thought someone had tried to kill me for a good reason. But no, you were just trying to cover your own ass. Just like everyone else.” Lila backed away slowly, trying to increase the distance between them as much as possible. She’d draw and chance it once Rubio got started talking, once the doctor stopped paying attention.
Just like Maria had done with the merc two weeks ago.
The doctor would be yet another body on a concrete
floor. Something to dream about, but not regret.
Rubio bristled at Lila’s irritated tone. “I’m not covering my ass. I’m protecting my life. I worked hard to get where I am. I have a wife, a good job—”
“Had. And you got them by lying.”
“Everybody lies. Everybody makes deals. Just like your sister. I notice that you haven’t arrested her yet.”
“Last time I checked, she hadn’t tried to kill me.”
“That’s not why you sicced your dogs on me. I didn’t do anything except steal a drug and synthesize it. She’s the one who poisoned her fiancé, not me. And yet here you are. You think I don’t know the score just because my parents were—”
A shot rang out, cutting through Rubio’s words.
The doctor jumped slightly as though startled, as though something had taken away her train of thought. Her Randolph pendant hopped at her neck, and her eyes lost their focus.
Lila startled as well, but she didn’t feel the weight of a dart strike her neck. She didn’t feel a needle burrowing into her, pumping poison throughout her blood.
What she didn’t feel, she saw.
The thick puff of red mist at Cristina’s temple.
The stream of crimson winding from the hole.