Seconds to Live (Scarlet Falls #3)(94)

Mac tried to slide away from the blade, but the restraints held him fast.

Josh drew the blade over the skin on Mac’s arm. With his adrenaline running on high, Mac barely felt the slice. A quick burn, then nothing. Blood flowed over his skin in a thin river.

“No screaming?” Josh all but clapped with glee as he picked up a hammer.

Knowing what was coming, Mac clenched his fist, but Josh hit him with another short Taser jolt. Mac’s hands tightened until his fingers dug into his palms. The electricity abandoned him, and his muscles went involuntarily lax.

Josh stretched out his fingers and brought the hammer down. This was no clean sharp blade, and pain exploded through Mac’s hand. His jaw clamped, his molars coming together with a brain-rattling snap of teeth that caught his tongue. Blood flooded his mouth.

Josh held up a syringe. “I can end all that pain right now.”

“What is that?”

“Heroin.” Josh said it like he was offering candy to a child. “No more pain, Mac.”

Real terror spread like a brushfire through Mac’s body. Injuries to his body would heal. But addiction never ended. He couldn’t go down that road again. He’d rather die.

“Fuck you.” Blood flew from his mouth as he spat out the words.

A crazy-ass grin spread across Josh’s face. “I knew it. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure out what I was doing wrong.”

“What are you talking about? Is this about your brother?”

“I’ve been studying addiction for years, and every single person I’ve treated has had a relapse at some point. Take Gary Simmons. We talked about him, remember?”

“The news anchor?”

Josh smiled as if he was a teacher and Mac his star pupil. “Yes. My brother only killed himself, but Gary killed a whole family of innocents. Addiction is a time bomb. Eventually every addict is going to blow up. I’ve been looking for The One person who has truly beaten addiction. So far, every subject I’ve tested has failed.”

He set the syringe on the tray. Relief spread through Mac at an embarrassing rate. His hand throbbed, every beat of his heart slamming him with a bolt of pain. Relaxing, he breathed and let the pain flow, accepting it. The heat spread up his arm and invaded his shoulder.

“But there’s one more test.” Josh swiped his fingers across an electronic tablet. He held it out so Mac could see the screen.

Gianna.

And Mac knew exactly what Josh was planning: a no-win situation for Mac. Josh didn’t want to find The One person who had beaten addiction. He wanted to kill.

Josh shook his head. “She’s not doing very well. I expect the toxins are building up in her bloodstream.”

The girl’s body was tinted green with a night vision light. She stood in front of the door, her fists raised as she beat on the wood. Water lapped around her knees. The part of the basement in which she was being held prisoner must be lower than the room Mac was in. As he watched, the water rose past her knees. God, it was pouring in. How quickly would the room fill?

“Let her go,” Mac tried. “She hasn’t done anything. She’s sick.”

“Maybe we can come to an agreement.” Josh raised the syringe. “You take this, and I’ll leave her outside the ER. She hasn’t seen my face. She doesn’t know who I am.”

Mac felt defeat flowing over him. The pain in his hand slipped away. “How do I know you’ll actually do it?”

Josh looked offended. “I always keep my word. Why would you even question my offer?”

“Because you’re a psycho killer?”

“I assure you,” Josh gave him a condescending, f*ck you smile, “There’s a method to what seems like madness.”

“Let me guess. That’s a fatal dose of heroin.”

“It is,” Josh said as if the conclusion was inevitable.

“Why go to all this trouble?”

“The fallen have to be punished,” Josh said simply. “They have to be stopped. We both know there’s no such thing as a recovered addict. Sobriety is a temporary status. I used to be optimistic. I thought I could save people from themselves. But Gary’s relapse made me realize how dangerous addicts are. Anyone who fails my test needs to be culled from society like a diseased animal. Sooner or later, you’ll all relapse, and when you do, you’ll hurt someone else. The decision is yours.”

“But you’re not giving me a choice.” Mac argued in an attempt to stall for time.

“There’s always a choice.” Josh’s attitude turned pissy, as if he was tired of explaining himself to an intellectual inferior.

“My choice is to sacrifice an innocent girl to save myself. Hardly heroic,” Mac pointed out.

“Your integrity should trump all.” Josh lifted both hands. “She isn’t worth your life. She’s one of the fallen. Her life is misery, hardly worth sacrificing yours to preserve.”

“Says you.” Mac turned the discussion around. “Is this about your brother?”

Josh’s eyes went icicle. “My brother was perfect until she cast him in her spell. Sex and drugs were his end. She was supposed to be recovered, but obviously she wasn’t. There’s no such thing.”

“She?” Mac slipped his first two fingers into his front pants’ pocket. Did he have one of Stella’s hairpins? Please. Please. Please.