The Death Cure - James Dashner [78]
“Why would I take anything from you? It’s probably poisoned.”
“You wanna go hungry, fine by me,” the guy replied, moving on.
He had nearly passed them when Minho suddenly leaped to his feet and tackled the man holding the Launcher. Thomas flinched as it slipped out of the guy’s grip and discharged, sending a grenade up toward the ceiling, where it crashed in a display of lightning. The kidnapper was still on the ground when Minho started punching him, struggling to grab the man’s pistol with his free hand.
For a moment, everyone froze. But then movement exploded all at once before Thomas could react. The three other guards dropped their bags to go after Minho, but before they could take a step they had six people on them, throwing them to the ground. Jorge helped Minho drag the guard to the floor and was stomping the man’s arm until he finally let go of the pistol he’d pulled from his belt; Minho kicked it across the floor, and a woman picked it up. Thomas saw that Brenda had grabbed the Launcher.
“Stop!” she shouted, aiming the weapon at the kidnappers.
Minho stood up, and as he stepped away from the man on the ground, Thomas could see that the guy’s face was covered in blood. People were already dragging the other three guards over to lie next to their partner, lining them up so that all four were on their backs in a row.
It had all happened so fast, Thomas hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor, but he immediately got to work.
“We have to get them to talk,” he said. “We have to hurry before backup comes.”
“We should just shoot them in the head!” a man called out. “Shoot them and get out of here.” A few others shouted their agreement.
Thomas realized that the group had turned into a mob. If he wanted information he had to work fast—before things fell apart. He stood and made his way over to the woman with the gun and convinced her to hand it to him; then he turned and knelt beside the man who’d given him the bread.
Thomas put the gun to the guy’s temple. “I’m going to count to three. You either start telling what WICKED plans to do with us and where you were going to meet them or I’ll pull the trigger. One.”
The man didn’t hesitate. “WICKED? We got nothing to do with WICKED.”
“You’re lying. Two.”
“No, I swear! This has nothing to do with them! At least as far as I know.”
“Oh really? Then you want to explain why you’re out kidnapping a bunch of immune people?”
The man’s eyes flickered to his friends, but then he answered, looking straight at Thomas. “We work for the Right Arm.”
CHAPTER 46
“What do you mean you work for the Right Arm?” Thomas asked. It made no sense.
“What do you mean what do I mean?” the man said, despite the gun at his head. “I work for the freaking Right Arm. Why’s that so hard to understand?”
Thomas pulled the gun away and sat back, confused. “Then why would you be out capturing Immunes?”
“Because we want to,” he said, eyeing the lowered weapon. “You ain’t got no business knowin’ nothing else.”
“Shoot him and move on to the next one,” someone in the crowd called out.
Thomas leaned back in, pressed the gun against the man’s temple again. “You’re awfully brave considering I’m the one with the gun. I’ll count to three one more time. Tell me why the Right Arm would want Immunes or I’ll just have to assume you’re lying. One.”
“You know I ain’t lying, kid.”
“Two.”
“You ain’t gonna kill me. I can see it in your eyes.”
The man had called his bluff. There was no way Thomas could just shoot some stranger in the head. He sighed, pulled the gun away. “If you work for the Right Arm, then we’re supposed to be on the same side. Just tell us what’s going on.”
The guy sat up, slowly, and so did his three friends, the bloody-faced man groaning with the effort.
“If you want answers,” one said, “then you’ll have to ask the boss. We seriously don’t know anything.”
“Yeah,” added the man next to Thomas. “We’re nobodies.”
Brenda stepped closer with her Launcher. “And how do we get to this boss of yours?”
The man shrugged. “I have