“Don’t you dare!” The words tumble out, one on top of the other. For good measure, she zaps me with another wave of electricity. I’d cry out, but she’s already served me with the most intense pain. I’m numb to any more. “There’s no guarantee talking will do any good. He’s locked into a certain mind-set, and he only hears what he wants.

“Plus, if you tell him now, you risk making the situation worse,” she continues, more slowly but just as insistent, just as dire. “He could launch the virus sooner. The lead time could help him improve its efficacy. More people will die. Even more than the millions who have already perished.”

I’m falling, sinking, disappearing into the ground. “I don’t have a choice, do I?”

She pauses, and hope surges. Is there another way out? An action that could save the future without taking Bandit’s life? Please, please, please. I can hear the words. I can almost taste them.

“You always have a choice,” she says. Her voice gets softer and more distant, as though she, too, is being sucked away. “It’s just that sometimes, that choice is between horrific…and worse.”

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

The headlights cut a swath in the darkness, showing us no more than a few feet of road. But that’s okay because the car hugs the mountains, and I’m not sure we could see much beyond the curves anyhow.

I peek at Bandit. He stares straight ahead, both hands on the steering wheel, his lips a tense line. Who can blame him? To me, Charlie is an evil man who will one day help to destroy the world. But to Bandit, he’s a beloved uncle who’s just suffered a serious car accident.

We zoom around a corner, and my stomach flips. “Slow down,” I order, not because I’m actually concerned but just to have something to say. The silence between us has stretched too long, too thin, and I’m afraid it might choke me. “You’re going to get us killed.”

“I would never put you in any danger,” he says, even as he eases his foot off the accelerator.

The car slows, but I hardly notice. Instead, my last words echo through my head. You’re going to get us killed. You’re going to get us killed.

You’re going to. Get. Us. Killed.

If only he did drive off the road. That would be an easy solution to my problem. I wouldn’t have to use the gun. One hard yank of the steering wheel, and we would go careening off the edge. I wouldn’t have to clean up the blood or dispose of the body. One jerk of the arm, and I’d be done. An entire world saved.