Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93984 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 470(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 313(@300wpm)
“That would be the one.” Gabriel took another few steps into the room, coming around to the side of the desk so that he had a clear shot of the doctor.
“And you would be the one that bitch Gretchen hired to get Weiss’s data. The one that fucking assassin couldn’t kill.” Elba’s face twisted up with his rage, growing redder by the second. “We should have never hired that idiot. It’s one thing to take out a couple of annoying doctors who won’t follow orders, but a professional should be able to take out other professionals.”
It was on the tip of Gabriel’s tongue to warn him that you get what you pay for, but he was more concerned about Elba’s “we” in his earlier statement. Had he been right that Elba had teamed up with Hamilton to make sure the drug was approved?
Unfortunately, the realization came to him a second too late. Something hard pressed against the back of his head. He shifted his gaze slightly from Elba to the windows behind the desk to find a man in a suit, standing directly behind him, holding a gun.
“And shall I assume this is Dane Hamilton?” Gabriel calmly drawled.
He silently berated himself for not checking the rest of the room before approaching Elba. The man might have looked as if he were alone, but apparently Hamilton had been just out of eyesight behind the door. A cold sweat trickled down his neck, but he remained calm. He’d been in worse situations and had still come out alive.
“Are you the asshole who released the data? Are you the fuck who contacted the FDA?” Hamilton seethed, rage twisting his words.
“I am. You were killing people when you promised to make them better.”
“They have cancer! Of course they’re dying. The drug is supposed to give them some hope!” Hamilton shouted. He pressed the gun closer, digging it into the back of Gabriel’s head. Interestingly, the man hadn’t demanded that he drop the gun he still had trained on Elba. He was too lost in his own anger about being beaten.
“People can’t beat cancer on hope,” Gabriel calmly said. He subtly shifted his own weight from his left foot to his right, readying his body for his one opening. There had to be one. Just a slim shot to act. This couldn’t be his end. Justin was waiting for him downstairs. They’d finish this job and then talk about the future.
“No, but Siltryptrose would have given us time and data to perfect it,” Elba countered. “The chemical is so close, but we need more time to perfect it. To research it.”
“While using the entire population as a guinea pig.” Gabriel sneered. “I think you misspoke earlier. You’re not doing this for time and data. You’re doing it for the money.”
“A lot of fucking money,” Hamilton snarled. “Billions of dollars.”
“So, when Weiss and Jones wouldn’t turn a blind eye to the deadly side effects, you decided to hire a hit man to take them both out and hide the data?”
“Except we hired the wrong damn hit man,” Elba muttered.
“Not that you’re looking any better,” Hamilton added with an ugly, mocking laugh.
“Oh, I’m much better,” Gabriel said with a smile. Elba frowned, and he thought he heard Hamilton laugh again. The pressure holding the gun to his head grew lighter and that was enough of an opening.
Shifting all his weight back to his left foot, Gabriel ducked low and swung around to face Hamilton. His free left hand came up and clamped down hard on Hamilton’s wrist, keeping the gun pointed toward Elba, while bringing up his own gun. He quickly squeezed off two rounds straight into the man’s chest. Hamilton reacted in panic, squeezing the trigger on his own gun. With no suppression, the gunshot echoed loudly through the office. There was a sharp cry, but Gabriel didn’t take his eyes off Hamilton until he was sure that the shots fired into his chest were fatal.
Straightening, he released the man’s arm, allowing him to fall. He was just turning toward Elba when the door exploded open. Gabriel swung his gun up and swore when he saw Justin run across the threshold, his own gun at the ready.
“Are you okay?” he demanded.
Gabriel smirked at his companion. “This was not part of our plan.”
Justin shrugged. “True, but I missed you.”
Gabriel shook his head and turned to Elba, completely expecting to find the man cowering under his desk. What he found was a corpse. Hamilton’s wild shot had struck the man in the center of his chest, killing him. Well…fuck, that was tidy.
“It’s Elba and Hamilton, right?” Justin said, coming to stand next to Gabriel. He likely recognized both men from their pictures on Iaso’s website.
“Yes. They were working together. They jointly hired the assassin to take out Weiss, Jones, and us.”