Chapter 41

Josh didn't missGary's sharp intake of breath.

"That's got to be bullshit." Gary scowled.

Kathy arched her neatly sculpted eyebrows. "I'm going to guess you know it's not." She glanced at Josh. "Am I right, Dr. Malone?"

This whole fucked-up situation was mind-boggling, but not too much of a surprise, if he were honest. Spencer had to have killed thousands. He'd even had the temerity to accomplish that feat on national television. And then he'd had the balls to turn around and point to Josh being the perpetrator.

Would attacking Chicago really be a step too far? Adding the deaths of thousands more to his list of crimes?

Josh took in a deep breath. "Tell us what you know."

I'm going to regret this.

Kathy leaned back in her chair. "Fine, but only because I want to get out from under his thumb and you've promised to get me protection." She looked expectantly at Gary, who gritted his teeth.

"We'll talk to Grady, but remember, we don't make the decisions. If we tell him you cooperated, however, he'll be more likely to listen." He cocked his head. "One thing I have to know, though. Why did you run? I'm not talking about the kids he killed. There has to be more to it than that. I mean, you saw all the horrors that he committed, but you still stood by his side. What changed?"

She sighed. "I think it started with the board. They were like me. I was one of them. They shared his vision, just like me, and he had no problems snuffing them out. I can't say he would have killed me, but I'm willing to bet he would have once he had what he wanted. I mean, I knew secrets, just like they did. That he could kill dependable people without remorse? That scared me."

"So you were out to save your own skin."

She sneered. "Of course I was! I couldn't run the risk of him turning on me too."

"And what if he wouldn't have?" Gary asked.

Another sneer. "He would have, I guarantee it. I'd served my purpose, and I knew too much. The thing he didn't take into consideration is that I'm not stupid. I read the writing on the wall, and I decided it was in my best interest to get the hell out of there." She straightened, her back rigid, her eyes locked on Josh, and suddenly he was squirming. "Okay, enough about my motivation for desertion. What you need to understand is this was a plan years in the making. He had hackers combing through the government databases, looking for secrets he could exploit. One of them came across the files for the toxin the government had been creating, but subsequently shelved."

Josh rolled his eyes. "Lady, we know this already. You're looking at the reason why they shelved it."

She chuckled. "Yeah, Spencer got really interested when he saw that part. That was also the first time he came across your name." She stared at Josh. "You impressed him, and let me tell you, that isn't an easy thing to do."

Josh wasn't sure whether he should be flattered or nauseated. His stomach lurched.

Yeah, nauseated wins.

"Spencer didn't do anything with the information he'd gleaned. He kept the file for himself, wanting to know more about it and about you, Dr. Malone." She smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "You intrigued him. I can still hear him muttering, ‘What kind of person would give up the potential power they held to just be left alone?'"

"Someone who's his polar opposite," Josh murmured.

"He had his team do deep background checks on you, offering great rewards for any new information they procured. Suffice it to say, the more he found, the deeper his obsession with you grew."

Well, that wasn't creepy at all. Josh did his best to rein in his shivers.

"Spencer had them compile a file on your life, which he pored over on an almost daily basis. And then everything changed after he got to the point where you started CrossBow with Mr. Cross."

Josh frowned. "As interesting as this is, why aren't you sharing details of his imminent attack on Chicago?"

She snorted. "It won't be today, Dr. Malone, or even tomorrow. There wasn't a date on it. But back to where I was before you interrupted me…. He was sure this would be where you'd show your true colors, but instead you continued to give away money hand over fist. He couldn't understand anything about you, which made you so much more of a mystery."

Josh was starting to like that. The idea that scum like Spencer might be able to fathom him?

That was an abomination.

"It was around this point where he got his idea about doing what he felt you should have done—grab power. To that end, he plotted, planned, and schemed until he came up with what he was certain was the best way to go about it. Instead of taking the long road, rising up through the ranks as most do, he would start at the top and show them what an iron will combined with an iron fist could accomplish."

Oh, for the love of God….

"You're not saying any of this was my fault?" Josh gasped.

She shook her head. "I doubt it. Although I wasn't a member of his inner circle at the time, I think he was looking for something to excuse his craziness." Kathy shrugged. "You just happened to be what he latched onto."

Josh wanted to beg her to stop, to tell him all this had been a nightmare. He knew better. "I'm sorry, please go on."

"I'd been working for him for a year, but it wasn't until this point that he brought me in on it. He fed the pain and anger I'd lived with my whole life. He stoked those fires until the day he told me he could help me get even with the people who'd hurt me so badly. Of course, thinking about my father, of everyone who'd tossed me aside? That, more than anything, fanned the embers of pain into a nuclear storm of hatred, anger, and rage. He promised he'd make things better. And I believed him. But I was just the first. Then came the others, each of them with reasons to hate because of how they were treated. And every one of them fell for his ideas that he would change the world and make it right for all of us and people like us."

People like Josh had once been. Angry. Bitter. Looking for purpose.

The difference was, he would never have helped kill anyone.

Would he?

"Then one of the others mentioned Porter."

Beside him, Gary stiffened but remained silent.

"He was exactly the kind of person Spencer was looking for. Greedy, with secrets he could exploit. Willing to do anything for a price. For a few years, Porter acted like the perfect little soldier in the military, doing as he was told, all while selling them out. Then his team got obliterated, which cast a shadow over what he'd sold to others, and Porter became toxic. His benefactors cut him loose, and he drifted around for a while, hoping to make contacts that could help him get back the wealth he'd lost. During that time, one of our people found him."

She turned her attention to Gary. "Porter had the stench of failure on him, and ordinarily that meant Spencer would have passed him over—until he found out that he had worked with you, Mr. Cross. Suddenly Spencer wanted him, badly." Kathy leaned back. "It was as though everything gelled right there. The plan he'd had simmering in the back of his mind had to have been like a prophecy. Since Porter had something to do with this tangled mess Spencer was creating, he told them to put Porter to work. That brought him back into your lives."

Gary growled, and it vibrated through Josh. He laid his hand on his arm. "Gary?"

"I'm fine," he snarled.

It was clear to Josh he was anything but fine.

"Get on with it," Gary said through gritted teeth. "What's his grand plan?"

Kathy tapped her index finger absently on the desk. "Initially, the idea was to plant bombs in Chicago, similar to the ones he'd used to kill the board. They're primed with a virulent toxin that kills within seconds. I don't know the formula, or if there's a way to stop it from killing people, but I do know they die horribly. I saw the faces of the board members, and even though they died quickly, their faces showed such pain."

Josh had witnessed the same reaction from the people who'd died as a result of the airplane attack. That brief exposure made them claw at their skin, leaving deep, bloody divots on soft flesh. He couldn't imagine the fear as they scraped away, trying to escape what they had to know was their death.

He locked gazes with her. "And how do I fit into his plan?"

She flashed that cool smile again, and it creeped Josh out even more. "You? You're like the anti-Spencer. He wants power and control, whereas you're more interested in helping people out. He doesn't understand you, so that leaves him only one option—to destroy you. Initially he was going to kill you, then claim to have discovered you were part of a group that wanted to take over the government."

Josh let out a derisive snort. "And we all know how that went."

She nodded. "Somehow you survived his attempts, so he revised his plans and made you the fall guy. It was perfect as far as he was concerned. You take the blame for his actions, becoming probably the most hated person in the country, and at the same time, adoration increased for him."

Josh blinked. "So what you're saying is we ruined his plans."

She scrunched her face. "Honestly, I don't think so. Spencer will never admit he's wrong, at least not out loud. It's his plan, so it has to be foolproof. I can't see him deviating from it, even at this point."

Cold flushed through him. "You mean he's still going to attack Chicago? You said there wasn't a date on it."

She gave a quick nod. "That's right, there isn't, but yes, he will definitely attack Chicago. And judging by how you've thrown him off his game, he'll likely move it up to capitalize off whatever he's going to do." Another shrug. "After everything you've done to thwart his plans, maybe now it's a case of sooner rather than later."

"You said initially he was going to plant bombs? Does this mean he's changed his plan of attack?" Gary demanded.

Kathy frowned. "Look, I don't know, okay? I'm not in the loop anymore, remember? He could have devised a whole new plan when everything went tits-up."

"Do you know where he intended planting the bombs?" Josh's heartbeat raced. They needed something to work with, for God's sake.

Her frown deepened. "It's in the files I gave you. Everything is in there. But if memory serves, he'd selected the John Hancock Tower, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Shedd Aquarium, the Navy Pier, and the Sears Tower—oops, the Willis Tower."

Josh gaped at her. "Those sound like tourist attractions."

She nodded. "Some of the biggest in Chicago. I think the John Hancock Tower receives between four and six thousand visitors a day in season." Another shrug. "Let's just say one helluva lot of people. Maximum coverage, guaranteed. Great way to attract attention, right? It'd make every news channel in the entire US."

"But the devastation," Josh gasped.

Kathy chuckled. "Gotta break a few eggs if you want a tasty omelet."

He glared at her, hoping the camera captured the full force of his rage. "You think this is funny? That thousands more people are going to die, just because Spencer is suffering from some goddamn Messiah complex?"

"We're not going to let it happen, all right?" Gary reached for his phone.

"And just who do you think is going to believe a word you say after the snow job Spencer has pulled?"

Gary stilled. "Okay, maybe they won't listen to me, but they will listen to David Carson." He grimaced. "Once he's able to tell them."