Zero Game - Brad Meltzer [153]
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m not a moron, Harris—they told me what you said . . .”
“Viv, I never—”
“You want me to quote ’em? That you forced me into this . . . that when Matthew died, you threatened me into helping you . . . that you said you’d ‘break my face’ if I didn’t get on the private jet and tell everyone I was your intern. How could you say that?”
“You’re taking it out of context—”
“Harris, they showed me the statement you wrote!”
I turn to the classical murals on the wall, unable to face her. There are four murals, each one with a woman soldier in ancient armor, representing a different stage in a nation’s development: Adventure, Discovery, Conquest, and Civilization. They should have another one labeled Regret. My answer’s a whisper. “I didn’t want you to follow the ship down.”
“What?”
“You know how these things go—who cares if we saved the day? I made bets on legislation . . . misappropriated a corporate jet . . . and arguably contributed to the death of my best friend . . . Even if you were there for the very best reasons—and believe me, you were the only innocent in the whole crowd—they’ll take your head off just because you were standing next to me. Assassination by association.”
“So you just twist the truth and take the fall for everything?”
“Believe me, Viv—after what I sucked you into, I deserve far worse than that.”
“Don’t be such a martyr.”
“Then don’t be so naive,” I shoot back. “The moment they think you were acting on your own is the exact same moment they put you on the catapult and fire you.”
“So?”
“Whatta you mean, So?”
“I mean, So? So what if I lose my job? Big whoop. It’s not like they gave me the scarlet letter. I’m a seventeen-year-old page who lost her internship. I wouldn’t quite consider it the end of my professional career. Besides, there are more important things than a stupid job—like family. And friends.”
Staring me down with one eye, she holds the ice pack to the other.
“I agree,” I tell her. “I just . . . I just didn’t want them to fire you.”
“I appreciate that.”
“So what happened in there?” I ask.
“They fired me,” she says nonchalantly.
“What? How could they—?”
“Don’t look at me like that. At the end of the day, I still broke the cardinal rule of being a page: I went off campus without authorization and stayed overnight without permission. Worst of all, I lied to my parents and the principal, then flew off to South Dakota.”
“But I told them—”
“It’s the FBI, Harris. They may be hard-asses, but they’re not complete idiots. Sure, maybe you can force me on a plane, or to run an errand or two, but what about getting me to the motel, and to the mine, then down the shaft, and into the lab? Then we gotta catch the return flight back. You’re a lot of things, Harris, but kidnapper’s not on the list. You really thought they’d believe all that crap?”
“When I told it, it was flawless.”
“Flawless, huh? Break my face?”
I can’t help but laugh.
“Exactly,” she says. Viv pauses, finally taking the ice pack off her face. “I still appreciate you trying, though, Harris. You didn’t have to do that.”
“No. I did.”
She stands there, refusing to argue. “Can I ask you one last thing?” she says, motioning to the ground. “When we were down there with Janos . . . and you were stuck in the hole . . . were you standing on that little ledge the entire time?”
“Just toward the end . . . my foot stumbled on it.”
She’s silent for a moment. I know what she’s after.
“So when you asked me to swing the golf club . . . ?”
There we go. She wants to know if I was really willing to sacrifice myself, or if I just did it to distract Janos.
“Does it matter?” I ask.
“I don’t know . . . maybe.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I’d have asked you to swing either way.”
“That’s easy to say now.”
“Sure is, but I didn’t find the foothold till the last second, when he broke my grip.”
She stops as the consequences sink in. It’s no lie. I would’ve done whatever it took to save her. Foothold or not.
“Take it as a compliment,” I add. “You’re worth