Sakir

The speed at which Lexi lashes out at President Ashford reminds me of a snake. She jabs the gun forward and nails him right between the eyes. The man reels backwards, stumbles over his feet, and lands on the floor.

"Oh, I'll find something to threaten you with," Lexi whispers, shoving her gun at the nearest Compound 5 guard and launching herself at the president.

Isaac and I rush forward at the same time, but it's Quinn that grabs her by the arm and jerks her backwards.

"Cut it out, Lex," he snaps, and she glares at him. After a moment, her face softens, and she lets out a long slow breath.

"Fine," she huffs, "but you need to figure something out. Or I really will kill him."

Everyone in the room knows she means the threat, but Quinn clings to her arm. With every passing second, she shrinks down a little more until her face returns to its normal shade of white. Finally, he lets her go, turning instead to Ashford.

"Let's talk like adults for a minute," he says, kneeling down beside the president.

"You're not an adult, kid," Ashford reminds him with a smirk.

"Well, you're not a very good one so let's just both keep pretending, okay?"

Ashford turns his nose up at him but doesn't look away.

"You want us to threaten you with something a little more important? How about your life? How much does that mean to you?"

Ashford smirks but remains silent.

"Here's what we'll do. Athena will go prep a dosage of the third strand. You cooperate, and it'll never enter your bloodstream. Keep fighting us, and you'll be dead within hours."

Athena nods from where she stands and bustles into the other room.

"Sakir, go see if she needs some help," Papa says, nudging me with his elbow. I do as I'm told and stand behind Athena as she shuffles through the cabinets and drawers.

"Dr. Julien is messy," Athena mumbles.

"Was," I say. Athena cocks one eyebrow at me. "She was messy. She's dead now."

Athena sighs and continues looking for the solution. Within a minute, she finds the syringes labeled as the third strand and lays a few of them across the counter.

"It's strange," she whispers, her voice trailing off.

"What is?"

"They look exactly the same, but these are labeled differently."

She points at the needles and rolls them over so that I can see the labels. The left half of her stack says 'placebo', not 'third strand'.

"Why would Julien make vials of a fake virus?"

Athena shrugs.

"Beats me. Maybe she didn't intend to give the real one to Ashford."

"Wouldn't it be smarter not to label them this way? They're obvious fakes."

Athena snorts.

"She wasn't very smart, okay? I mean, it did take her almost ten years to make it in the first place."

Athena pockets both sets of syringes and heads back to the door.

"Wait," I say as an idea forms like a balloon in my head. "What if we take off the labels?"

Athena narrows her eyes at me as she pauses at the door.

"No one would know the difference."

"And if we gave the placebo instead of the virus to Ashford?"

"He wouldn't have a clue until he didn't die."

I walk over and grab Athena by the shoulders. She stares at me. Clearly, she doesn't see where I'm going. Do I really see what I'm trying to say either though?

"We can use the threat of the virus to drive him to say what we want," I explain, "and then when we finally says it, we can lock him away for the rest of his life. No one has to die. We get what we want. Everyone wins."

"He deserves to die, Saki," Athena says gently. "He's caused so much pain and destruction."

"That's not your decision to make. It's not mine, either."

Athena stares at me for a long minute, moving her tongue over her teeth beneath her lips. She chews on her bottom lip, cracks her knuckles, and then twists a strand of hair around her finger. All the while, one hand remains on the door knob. I bite the inside of my check. I don't necessarily need her approval, but I do want her justification. I need her to tell me I'm not insane.

"Do we tell Quinn?" she finally says, and I let a small smile form over my lips.

"No," I say. "He doesn't have to know until later."

With a nod, she pulls out a handful of the placebo-filled syringes. She hands a few to me, and both of us start pulling off the labels. I drop them onto the ground, and they clutter up the filthy red floor beneath us.

"Let's go trick two presidents in one day," Athena says with a sigh as she shoves the medication back in her pocket. I nod, and she turns and opens the door.

Nothing has changed in our absence. The stand-off continues with Lexi staring angrily at Ashford and Ashford just blinking at her with a devilish grin on his face.

At the sight of us, though, his face drops.

Good. He needs to be afraid.

"Do you have it?" Quinn asks, and Athena pulls one of the syringes out of her pocket.

"Of course I do," she mumbles. "You want one or two?"

"Would it work faster with two?"

"Theoretically."

"Good enough for me. Will you please administer that, Athena?"

Athena nods and takes a step towards Ashford, but Papa reaches out and grabs her arm.

"Let me," he says, holding a hand out. Athena hands over the syringes. He stares at them for the longest minute of my life, like he's analyzing every fiber and ingredient in the tube. He rolls them over several times and then looks up at his trainee. Athena glances away.

She's never been a liar.

If he asks her about them, she'll fold like a blanket.

Luckily, he looks back down and takes a step towards Ashford.

"Alexis, will you hold his hands behind his back?" Papa asks, and Lexi trips over her own feet in excitement. She jerks his arms with enough force to rip them out of the sockets, but Ashford just stares at Papa.

"Now, Ashford. In your leave of absence, who will you be appointing as the new President of the United States?" Quinn asks, and I look over at him. He holds his tablet up and is recording the scene.

Smart move.

"Bigfoot," Ashford hisses, glaring at my father.

"Strike one," Quinn says. "Let's try again. Who will be in charge when you're gone, President Ashford?"

The old man looks over at Quinn.

"I just told you. I'm leaving Bigfoot in charge. Is that not your name?"

Quinn narrows his eyes at him.

"Strike two," he growls. "Last chance to come out of this alive."

Ashford winces as Papa presses into the vein in his elbow.

"Oh, go ahead and infect me. You won't actually do it, Sai. I've known you for almost thirty years. You're a coward. You didn't even have the strength to say no when I presented the idea of the virus to you," Ashford says. "Now, you're strong enough to kill me?"

Papa smirks.

"Not just you, Nicolas," he whispers. "You killed my wife and blamed it on a stroke. You almost killed my son. You turned my best friend into a monster who slaughtered her own children for your purification mission. I'll take joy in giving you the virus- just like you took joy in ruining my life for the past fifteen years. I'll start with you, and then I'll hunt down your wife and son. I know you have one, and I know you've hidden him away."

Ashford's face falls flat, and horror drapes itself over his eyes.

Papa found a weak spot.

"Last time I'm going to ask, Ashford. Who is in charge when you leave?"

Quinn's voice shatters the tense silence. Athena grips my elbow in her iron hold, but I'm too busy holding my breath.

"I appoint Quinn Austin as President of the United States in my absence," Ashford mumbles, as if the words taste like rotten fruit. "Isaac Montez will serve as Lieutenant General over Compound 1 while Austin holds residence in Compound 5. Every compound left standing will be under their command and shall do as they say or face the punishments set forth by the law."

Quinn smiles.

"Perfect," he says, lowering the tablet. "I got it."

"Good," Papa says, and then, he jabs the two needles into Ashford's upper arm at the same time. The old president yelps in pain, jerking away from Papa.

"I told you what you wanted!" he roars as he fights against Lexi's hold. Isaac steps in to help her. They both strain against his violent movements.

"I don't care. You still deserve to die," Papa says as he stands back up and walks away from a stunned Quinn.

"That's not your place to decide!" Quinn and I blurt at the same time. He looks at me, and a smirk flashes across his face. It fades as quickly as it appeared, but it's still reassuring. We're on the same page about one thing.

Papa turns and glares at his curly haired companion.

"I seem to recall that you infected another president not too long ago," he says, and I lift my eyebrows in surprise. I knew he 'took care' of President Kovach, but I wasn't aware of how he did that.

"She infected me first!" Quinn says, throwing up his hands. "I tried to do it the right way. I was sick and a little crazy when I bit her. You know that."

"Well, Ashford provoked me, too, Quinn. He's given me every reason to kill him."

I reach out and grab Papa's elbow.

"Maybe so, but that doesn't mean you sink to his level. You're not Ashford or Kovach. We have to be better."

Papa looks me up and down and narrows his eyes at me.

"When did you get so wise?" he asks in a small voice.

"When I spent three days strapped to a table thinking I was going to die," I mumble. "When I became responsible for someone other than myself and failed to carry out my promise to her."

Papa looks at me, and I know he sees through my Rushmore face.

"I grew up when the girl who lifted me off that table jumped in front of a bullet for me," I whisper. It takes every bit of strength I have not to look at the floor. Yet, I know if I look away he won't believe me. "Trust me, Mya wouldn't want anyone in this room to become a killer. Me, you, Athena, Isaac. Anyone."

I knew her for less than a week, and the darkness still spreads over my chest and body like an ever growing sponge.

"Well, I think it's too late for your motivational speech now," Papa says bitterly. "I already injected him."

Athena chuckles, and we both swivel around to look at her.

"Yeah, with a placebo," she says. When no one comments, she continues, "Saki came up with it, not me. You didn't give him the third strand. You gave him a fake dose. He's perfectly fine."

Papa exhales, but I can't be sure if it's from relief or sadness that he didn't kill him. Either way, I'm content with what I did.

"That's good," Quinn says, "because we're about to have to walk him out of this compound where everyone can see him leaving. I would hate to have to drag his dead body out."

"Where are you going to take him?" I ask.

"To Compound 5, where I can lock him away and keep tabs on him for the rest of his life."

I nod, and Quinn hands the tablet off to Papa.

"I assume you're staying here?"

"Of course," Papa says. "I'm ready to go home."

"I bet you are. Release the video after we've left. Call an assembly with Isaac present, and project it on the screen outside HQ. If you have any problems, I'm only a video call away." He turns towards Isaac and Lexi. "Lexi can handle him from here, Isaac. Thank you."

Isaac lets go, and two more guards step forward to keep Ashford retained. They jerk the old man out of the room, leaving the Compound 1 guards and Quinn with us.

Quinn extends a lanky hand out towards me.

"Thank you," he says, and I twist my face up in confusion. "For doing what you could to save them. Jaelyn saved my compound from death, even when I burned 4 to the ground. I owed her everything, and now, I have to live with the fact that I didn't save her."

"Quinn, that's not-" I begin, but he cuts me off.

"Yes, it is my fault. I let her leave Compound 5, and I didn't come in time." He glances over at the two bodies. "I'm sorry that you lost two friends today. I hope you'll be able to forgive me in the near future. We would make a great team. I need as many brave friends as I can get to make up for my cowardice."

I smirk and shake his hand firmly.

I won't admit it, but I've already forgiven him. I also withhold my thoughts from him- he's a better president that any of the five founders combined. The world's in safe hands with him behind the wheel.

"Stay safe," I say, pulling away. He nods, shakes Isaac's hand and tells him he'll be in touch, gives Athena a hug, and then shakes hands with Papa. When his goodbyes are done, he looks back at the bodies and sighs wistfully. I want to tell him it'll be fine. We'll take care of them.

Yet, I'm still numb. I can't think about digging a grave when I still feel tiny, warm hands on my chest.

With a wave, Quinn leaves, taking the Compound 1 guards with him.