CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“No matter what she says, do not go off with her alone,” said Luke. “Stay in the office. We’ve planted cameras to be able to see everything. You have to get her to admit what she knows about Med-Tech and TMCheed.”
“O-okay,” said Everest nervously.
“Everest, you don’t have to do this,” said Mike.
“I do have to do this,” said Everest. “I’m doing for it everyone who was wronged by their actions but in some small way, I’m also doing it for Colt. He didn’t deserve to die.”
They all nodded at her as she left the SUV. They were four blocks from the building, Everest would walk the rest of the way. She wasn’t sure where they would be in relation to the office. It was better that way. Then she wouldn’t be nervously looking from one corner to the next.
When she walked through the glass revolving door the security guard looked up, unsure of who she was at first. Then John gasped.
“Miss Marshall!”
“Hello, John,” she smiled.
“Miss Marshall, you look incredible! Retirement looks amazing on you.”
“Thank you, John,” she chuckled, shaking her head. “I guess I need a visitor’s badge. I’m meeting Alice upstairs today.”
“You are?” he frowned.
“Yes. She asked me to meet her at ten. Am I too early?” she said with some surprise.
“No. No, it’s ten o’clock but Med-Tech told all their employees that they could have the week off considering all the strange things that have happened.” Everest tried to look confused, like she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Strange things?”
“Yes. The elevator accident that nearly killed you and then did kill Samantha and Abigail. Then those two young fellas that were working upstairs, Colt and Jordan, both died mysteriously. It all seems strange, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, sir. It does,” frowned Everest.
“Let me get you a visitor badge,” he smiled.
“Everest, I know you can hear me,” said the voice of Luke. “The communication device allows us to hear everything and see everything you do. Don’t panic. Don’t look around for us. We hear it all. Touch your ear if you understand.”
She reached up, gently running her finger over her earlobe and around, as if tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Good girl. We’ve got you.”
“Here you go, Miss Everest.”
“Thank you, John. And please, No Miss Marshall, no Miss Everest. Just Everest.”
She took the badge and passed it over the scanner at the elevator. When the door opened, she froze for just a moment, terrified of stepping into it once again.
“Relax, babe. We double checked the elevators late last night.”
Everest wanted to laugh at the sound of Mike’s voice but she knew she needed to pretend that everything was normal. Three other passengers were on the elevator, all getting off at different floors than hers.
When the elevator stopped on floor ten, she took in a deep breath and then stepped onto the shiny tiled floor. She opened the door into the office and smiled at Alice sitting there by herself.
“Alice, it’s nice to see you,” she said calmly. Alice stared at her a moment. “Where is everyone?”
“Oh. Oh, it’s a company thing,” she said shrugging. “I didn’t know until I got here that the office was closed because of all the strange things that have been happening. You look great!”
“Thank you. Odd,” frowned Everest. “Usually closure notices are sent out via a company-wide e-mail. Didn’t you see it?”
“Uh, no,” said Alice quickly. “Anyway, I decided to keep our meeting and show you what I need help with.”
“I haven’t agreed to help you, Alice. I just came to see an old friend and hear what’s going on at the office.” Alice stared at her, a flash of anger and hatred fleeting but there.
“Right. Of course. There’s not much to tell,” she said crossing her legs and playing with the hem of her dress. “There’s a rumor that the office may be shut down permanently, the company going out of business.”
“Who did you hear that from? Was it the private equity firm?” she said casually.
“Yes,” smiled Alice. “In fact it was.”
“Really? That’s strange since none of us knew who they were. We only had a name. How would they contact you or anyone else if everyone in charge is gone?”
“Why are you being like this?” snapped Alice. “Why are you so suspicious of everything I’ve said? We’re friends, Everest!”
“Are we Alice?”
“Of course! It was terrible what happened to everyone. Poor Colt, being tormented by the same things that tormented his childhood.”
Everest froze and then heard the instructions in her ear.
“Careful. But go ahead.”
“How did you know that? That wasn’t released anywhere. It wasn’t in the police reports and no one would have known that unless they were in the room with him. From what I know, only Samantha, Abigail, and Jordan were there.”
Alice froze staring at her, then it turned to a glare filled with hatred and anger.
“You always were too smart, Everest. My husband and his family thought so as well.”
“You mean the Quinns?” Everest’s face was a mask of stoicism. She didn’t crack, didn’t flinch at all.
“Bitch. That’s what you are,” said Alice.
“At least I’m not a bitch that tortures an innocent man for sex then kills him because you suspect him of something he never did.”
“He did do it! He sent you that shipping manifest. I know he did!”
“What’s your game, Alice? Nothing is going to get the Quinns out of prison. They’re there to stay and you know it. The FBI is already suspicious of what’s happening with the software and the hospitals.
“You’ve got nothing. Nowhere to run. No one to run to. Everything falls on your shoulders, Alice. All of it. The success. The failure. The jail time. Your husband and his family are already in jail. They lose nothing if this doesn’t work.”
“Shut up! I’ll get them off on all charges. Once I have what I need, I’ll take it all! And then I leave.”
“What you need? And what is it that you need?”
“I need you to work the system.” Everest stared at her, cocking her head to one side. “Do you know what the only medical records system is that we’ve never been able to get into?”
Everest just stared at her, trying to think carefully. They’d been in almost every major hospital and medical center in the nation. She couldn’t think.
“I don’t know,” she said quietly.
“What do you think would happen if we were able to manipulate the records of the major players in Washington? What if we could show that some of them are suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s?
Maybe a few are on illegal drugs, taking too many prescriptions, having trouble getting it up for the mistresses?
Suddenly a document leaks of multiple surgeries, tests, all kinds of things that never actually happened.
“What if those very same men were taking the experimental drugs provided illegally of course, and it showed that they were signing bills to push their approval through?”
“What is your game, Alice? You could kill hundreds of people,” she said calmly.
“I don’t care. I want the money that I would extort from them to free my husband and then we’ll leave the country.”
“If you’ve done what I think you’ve done, you already have millions in the bank,” said Everest. Alice only gave a cold laugh, shaking her head.
“Yes, I have millions in the bank. Poor, sweet Alice. Worked to the bone on presentations and materials, always cowering in the corner. No one knew that I was the one that kept Abigail and Samantha in line. I was the one fucking those two studs raw because I needed a man! I needed my husband and he wasn’t there! ”
“I would have never believed that you could be this cruel,” said Everest. “You destroyed two innocent men’s lives.”
“Innocent? Are you kidding me? That fuck machine, Jordan was happy to stick his dick in anything. The drugs really worked on him, although he definitely had something worth working.” She gave an evil smile to Everest and leaned forward, her elbows on her knees.
“Tell me, Everest. Have you ever had a man so hard he’s in pain? So hard that he’s begging to allow him to stick it anywhere, everywhere? A man that can fuck you raw and then rub his own dick to give you a break, relieve himself, and then go at again?
“No, sweet, virginal divorcee Everest has never experienced anything so lustful. Do you pleasure yourself, Everest? Do you touch yourself at night?”
“You’re sick,” said Everest softly. “My sex life isn’t your business.”
“That tells me that you have a sex life,” she grinned.
“You’re a married woman, Alice. How could you do that to your husband?” she asked calmly.
“That’s funny,” she said in a maniacal laugh.
“I met my husband while I was working the pole and going to college. That’s right.
The simple, quiet Alice was a stripper and a damn fine one.
Michael paid me very well to take my clothes off and then entertain him, his father and uncle in the back room.
“In fact, I got so good they would come without Michael. He didn’t care. I was just nineteen and it didn’t matter to him. He’d tell me who to get information from at the club. When I was fucking them, sucking them, asking innocent questions. Give them a little something in their drink.
“Then he started with the rough stuff. Not just on me, but for me. It was an awakening for me. A sexual awakening and freedom.”
“You have enough money, Alice. You could escape. Leave now. Leave it all behind.”
“No. I’ll get the information I want, bring down every judge, every juror, every politician who had anything to do with sentencing them.” It was a gut punch for Everest. Mr. Myers.
“We heard Everest. Sebastian Myers was on the jury that convicted them. We got it.”
“You’re going to leave a lot of dead bodies behind you, Alice. How on earth do you plan on getting away with it?” She smiled, standing from the sofa.
“That’s where you’re going to help me. You’re going to do this last thing, this last link to get into those records and then I’ll leave.”
“Without your husband?” Alice froze then smiled at her.
“Of course without him,” she laughed. “I needed their protection. I needed their connections. Men who could cut elevator cables, break into sealed child abuse records, break into homes and tear them apart.”
“You should have gotten your money back on that,” said Everest casually.
“Get up.”
“Don’t Everest. We’re in the office now. Just sit where you are and don’t move.”
“No. I’m tired, Alice. I’m not getting up and I’m not going to help you.”
Alice pulled a pistol from between the cushions and pointed it at Everest. Her hand was shaking slightly but not enough that she wouldn’t hit her target at this distance.
“Get up! I’ve learned how to shoot. I know what I’m doing.”
“Yes, and you’re going to kill me either way, so just do it now.”
The gun slowly lifted higher, pointing directly at Everest’s head. She clasped her hands together, silently praying and then heard a loud shot followed by a scream.
Clutching her chest she looked down, expecting to see blood but then realized it wasn’t her screams. Alice was lying back on the sofa, her hand a bloodied mess.
“You okay, babe?” said Mike kissing her temple as he pulled her behind him.
“Wh-what is this? What the fuck is happening?” she gasped. “Who are you?”
“You know who we are,” said Hex calmly staring at the woman. Alice stared at Hex, then looked at Everest.
“No. No, this can’t be. Legacy.”
“That’s right,” grinned Cam. “Your little visit with your family was enlightening. An old friend with the FBI was keeping a tight reign on your family. They certainly had a few friends behind bars but so did we.”
“No. No, I have money. I’ll give you money, just let me go.”
“Sorry. We can’t do that. You’ve destroyed too many lives. Killed too many people.”
Everest half-expected them to just kill her but when four men in FBI jackets walked in, she knew it wasn’t the plan.
“No. No, just kill me or they will! They’ll know what I’ve done,” she yelled.
“That’s right, they will,” said Luke. “What do you think Michael, Sean, and Thomas will do when they find out their precious little girl was hustling them all? We don’t have to kill you. The other inmates will do it for us.”
“Let’s go,” said one of the FBI agents. “We’ve got a nice pretty cell for you.”