Under the Knife(82)

Finney smiled faintly at the memory. “It was a big deal. Animal cruelty—things like that simply didn’t happen in our school, or our community. Ever. Bullying, yes. Animal cruelty, no. It was a scandal.”

“So you set this boy up.”

“Yes.”

“Did the dog die?”

“Yes.” Finney shrugged. “Not my intent. The dose was higher than I’d anticipated. What does the military call it? Collateral damage? At any rate, Tucker’s popularity, the one thing in the world that mattered most to him, was destroyed. Dog poisoner. Can you imagine? He became an outcast. He tried to tell people it wasn’t him, that he would never poison a dog. Cried, and begged. Nobody believed him. Not Ryan, or Ryan’s parents, or the administration of our school. Tucker and his entire family were humiliated.”

Finney pushed his finger hard against the X, as if trying to push it all the way through the paper, then drew it away. “One day, Tucker didn’t show up for school, and the news spread that he’d been expelled. That was the day I put an X through the box next to his name.”

“Did Tucker ever find out it was you?”

Finney shook his head. “No. I wanted him to. Badly. I wanted to take satisfaction in having him know it had been me. You can’t imagine how tempted I was to mail him a package (anonymously, of course) with a tack, and my ripped shirt, and some rat poison. But I wasn’t stupid. I knew it could be traced. So I had to take my satisfaction in the outcome. Which, believe me, Sebastian, I did.”

He turned a page. “I did.” He flipped carefully through the remaining pages of the book, which were filled with many more names, and many more boxes. All of the boxes had been marked with an X.

Except for the last one.

“Others followed, over the years. I would write out a name, and draw a box, and sketch out a plan for implementing lex talionis.”

“Lots of names,” Sebastian observed quietly.

“Yes. Well.” Finney snapped the book closed and returned it to his pocket. “One makes enemies when running a successful business. I’ve made my fair share.”

The wind coming in off the ocean seemed to grow stronger.

Finney pursed his lips. There was one final phase of his plan to kill Dr. Wu and the sister for which he needed Sebastian’s help. Now was the time to broach it. He would need to choose his words carefully so that Sebastian would agree to it. He sensed the man was beginning to question his methods.

“Sebastian. There’s something else I require of you before all of this is done. Something I’ve never mentioned before, and for which I’m prepared to compensate you. Handsomely.”

Sebastian’s face was impenetrable. “Go on.”

Finney explained what he needed from Sebastian. When Finney was done, Sebastian said, so softly that Finney could barely hear him over the wind, “I didn’t sign up for that, either, boss.”

“I have plans for her, Sebastian. She needs to atone for what she did to Jenny. I just need you to get her in position.”

“But what about after she’s in position? What are you going to do to her then? How are you going to explain how she ended up there in the first place?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. You can leave. Never look back. I’ll wire the remaining money to your account, on the spot. Ten times what we originally agreed upon, Sebastian. Ten times. Think of it. You’ll never have to work again. You can confirm the account transfer, using whatever independent method you’ve arranged, then leave us. Leave, and never look back.”

“What if I refuse?”

“Then I pay you the agreed-upon amount now, the original amount, and we part ways. I’m a man of my word, Sebastian.”

Sebastian stared at him, the wind whipping at his T-shirt.

“Twenty. Twenty times the original amount.”

“Twenty? No. Absolutely not. Out of the question.”

“Twenty. Or I walk. With the original amount. Right now.”

Finney considered it. He needed the man for the final part of his plan. And he knew that Sebastian was capable of unpleasant things should he walk away now with the perception he’d gotten a raw deal. Finney didn’t need that kind of aggravation.

Besides, in the end, Finney would see to it that Sebastian got nothing.

And Sebastian would never see it coming.

“Fifteen.” He had to make it appear as if he was haggling. Cave in too quickly, and Sebastian would grow suspicious.

“Eighteen.”

“Done.”

“Half now.”

“No. Nothing until everything is in place.”

Finney watched as Sebastian turned and studied the dark clouds on the horizon. He hadn’t revealed this part of his plan to Sebastian until now because he hadn’t been certain they’d ever get this far. Confident, but not certain.

He’d also sensed—rightly, it seemed—that Sebastian would have qualms. Sebastian possessed an inexplicable sentimental streak. Witness his reluctance to boost the power to Wu’s implant, and his incomprehensible concern for her life. It was an unexpected weakness in a man of Sebastian’s qualifications. Finney had thus far chosen to overlook this but wondered now if Sebastian would in the end balk at his offer.

Which would be disappointing but not disastrous: Finney would pay him his fee, and Sebastian would go on his way; and Finney would set off the devices (bombs, Sebastian had called them—an apt enough description), and then place an X through that final, empty box.