Xavier nodded. “A couple of the guys are there. So is Bain’s wife.”
She didn’t say or do anything, merely followed. Hospitals were the worst of places. She’d been taken to hospitals after a client had beaten her up—before she knew how to take care of herself. People had been paid off to not ask too many questions. She’d had no one.
Walking into Bain’s room, she saw some of the Killer of Kings men, and wow, they all look pissed. With them in the room, she felt small. She wasn’t a tall woman, and at that moment, she couldn’t believe she actually rivaled them with her kills and her ability to strike.
Boss looked at her. “Are you going to kill me?”
“No.”
“Really? You’re not going to take the job? It promises a big payday. I understand you have a shitload of debt.”
“You and I both know Viko did it on purpose. He doesn’t want me to pay off my debt.”
“Debt, what debt?” Xavier asked.
“It’s nothing.” She kept her gaze on Boss. It wasn’t a shock to her that he already knew about what Viko had asked. There was no way she was going to underestimate him again. “What do you know?”
“First of all, you’re going to have to tell us what you know about this,” Boss said, getting to his feet. “I’m not playing games, not anymore. That’s my man in here.”
She moved toward the door and closed it. “I only know so much but what you’ve got to understand is this drug has changed. What I originally had planned for it, it has changed.”
“Then tell me what little you do fucking know because right now, we’re on a clock. He’s not going to die, do you understand me?”
There was no mistaking the edge to his voice. Boss was holding on by a thread and if she wasn’t careful, he was going to take it out on her.
“How did he get it?” she asked.
The only other woman in the room stood up and held out a plastic bag. Taking it from her, Graciella frowned. “I’ve never seen it like this. They’re masking the original product.” She rolled the clear bag of mints over in her hand. They weren’t a recognizable brand, nor did they appear like any mints she’d ever seen.
“How did it come to you?” Boss asked.
“As raw drugs. They weren’t disguised like this when we started, but we can use this for tracing.”
“Wait a minute,” Xavier said. “You created this product?”
Graciella tensed as each of the Killer of Kings turned toward her. She looked at each of their faces. There was no mistaking the unspoken accusation, and they all wanted her dead.
“I did this to avenge my childhood.” She glared at each of them. “You have to understand, the men I planned to kill using this, it was only supposed to be for them. I had complete control until it was snatched away from me. I was a child when these men passed me around, raped me, beat me. I w
as the entertainment when they got drunk. I was going to make sure they suffered. I’d been well-trained, but I couldn’t take them all out, so I used the drugs. I used their greatest asset against them. I’m not ashamed of what I did. What I am ashamed of is believing I could wipe its existence from the face of the fucking earth. That was my one and only mistake.”
Tears were in Xavier’s eyes. Scarlett sobbed. The men didn’t look ready to kill her. Not anymore.
“Don’t pity me,” she said. “What your friend is going to go through isn’t pretty, and we don’t have a lot of time. This took twenty-four hours, seventy-two at the most, but I don’t know the full compounds, and the last time I checked, these were not reversible. All of the cases I’ve read about, the men and women couldn’t be saved.”
“I’ve got the doctor running a full tox screen,” Boss said.
“We need the scientist. Only he would know how to treat it.”
“There’s no guarantee of that though, is there?” Scarlett asked, her voice shaking. “This was designed to kill. You said so yourself. Why create an antidote?”
Graciella looked at Boss. “Because if this is the same scientist I used, he once told me that no one would create something where there was a risk of it coming back and biting them. For every dosage, there would be an antidote. In fact, we argued because he took longer than I wanted. He wouldn’t give me the drugs until he was sure he had an antidote. I don’t have any. I had no intention of taking the stuff, so I didn’t bother to get some. If I did, I’d have given it to you.”
“How can we trust you?” Killian asked. “All you have done is cause us trouble. We’re cleaning up your mess.”
“You think I’m not trying to clean this up? Why do you think I’ve moved as much as I have? Why I happen to appear when the cases of the crazed druggies are rife? I’m following it. I’m trying to trace it, and this is all I’ve got.” She held up the mints. “This is the biggest clue.”
Her hands shook.