The Cure

TONY HAD BEEN WAITING IN THE nation’s capital for over two days before he finally heard back from Carter. The doctor had given specific instructions on where and when they would meet but had taken no precautions to prevent Tony from bringing anyone with him. Since the point of this meet was to surrender, avoiding anyone else that might come with Tony seemed a little out of character. Carter was determined to give in, so there seemed no point in hiding. Carter, however, did have one condition regarding his surrender. He wanted them all to meet in a parking lot and while Tony wasn’t banned from bringing anyone else to secure the compound, he was to approach Carter alone to make sure he was taken into custody without incident. Tony was no fool and was going to have every agent available to him there to surround the lot. He had no issue with Carter’s conditions, but wanted to make sure backups were in place just in case his fugitive had a change of heart. Tony suspected that Carter might also want to speak with him in private before turning himself in. If the doctor wanted to share something that could put Audrey Black in hot water, Tony was all for it. He hated that wicked woman with a passion and would love nothing more than to have something that will send her and her cold hearted company up the river. Once the location was known, they made every effort to make sure the place was secured. Tony already knew that Carter was likely already there and made the call from the parking building before making its location know to the feds. When they were sure the building was about secure as it was ever going to be, Tony decided to go in. Both Bruce and Lisa seemed very uncomfortable with the idea.

“I’ll be alright,” Tony insisted as he took off his suit jacket and put on a vest.

“This isn’t the way to go,” Lisa replied. “This doesn’t seem right.”

“It will be fine,” Tony said with a smirk. “I know exactly why he’s surrendering and believe it or not it backs up Wilson’s off the charts theory.”

“Enlighten us,” Lisa demanded.

“It sounds like what happened in Connecticut really hit home with the good doctor,” Tony explained, “He thinks that smallpox attack was a ruse to flush him out and it worked. He came out of hiding to save the day, but he still got lucky when it’s all said and done. If things didn’t go right that day, it could have been a national outbreak, and millions of people could have been killed.”

“So, what exactly are you telling us?” Bruce asked.

“Carter is surrendering because of what happened last week,” Tony told his people, “He’d rather take his chances with us than put countless lives at stake.”

“So, he’s a fugitive with a heart of gold?” Bruce asked.

“It sure looks that way,” Tony countered, “I think he feels guilty, and doesn’t want to be the cause of more suffering. This is why he’s turning himself in.”

“You can’t do this alone.” Lisa stubbornly added.

“I have to,” Tony repeated, “These are his conditions. The building is surrounded, and from what we can tell there is no one in there.”

“You said it yourself, never go without backup.” Bruce reminded him, and it was rather amusing that the big man was using his own guidelines against him.

“This is different,” Tony corrected, “I do have backup, because you’re here and I have no doubt you’ll be in there very quickly should things go south.”

“You know we will,” Bruce confirmed.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” Tony said, as he unholstered his side arm. “I’m going in and no one advances without my say so.”

“We understand,” Lisa said, arms folded. “But we don’t like it.”

“Duly noted,” Tony said, “But this is how it’s got to be.”

His people all watched Tony enter the parking facility. After entering the lot, he quickly went up to the third floor as Carter had instructed. It took Tony several minutes to find the corner he was looking for, and slowly walked up to the area where Carter was supposed to be waiting for him. There were a lot of cars in this area but no sign of the man that he was looking for. Tony had his doubts like anyone else, but his instincts told him that Carters request to surrender was legitimate. He kept his guard and kept looking around for his man. Finally, there was a sound behind him that made the agent wheel around with pistol raised and ready to fire.

“Don’t shoot, Agent Deacon” a voice called to him, and he whirled around to see Xavier Carter exit from one of the cars and step out.

“I’m here alone and I’m unarmed.” Xavier informed him.

Tony paused for a moment, but realized what he said was true.

“What’s that you’re carrying?” Tony asked him.

“This is exactly what you think it is,” Xavier replied, “The one thing that everyone’s looking for: the cure. I’m tired of running and want to surrender myself and my work into your custody.”

“So, that’s it, huh?” Tony asked him, “The alleged miracle cure that Dr. Zaun has been telling us about?”

“The very same,” Xavier confirmed.

“You’ll forgive me if I find this all a little hard to believe,” Tony honestly replied, “It’s not my job to figure out what’s true or not. All I can promise is that you’ll get a lawyer, and fair trail complete with a judge and a jury of your peers. My duty is to take you in and set the date, nothing more.”

“I’m aware,” Xavier acknowledged. “Can you at least promise me that you’ll take this to someone who has the potential to continue my work, hopefully under settings that are more satisfactory to legal standards? I know this is a lot to ask but you have no idea how many lives this could save.”

“I have an idea,” Tony said as he stepped closer. “The Senator was given a clean bill of health last week, which is amazing considering that the secret service was well aware he was diagnosed with cancer half a year ago.”

“Well,” Xavier said with a smile, “I guess he’s campaign ready.”

“I guess you could say that.” Tony concurred, “The man is healthy enough to hit several states a day and run the campaign of his life.”

“Glad to hear it.” Xavier approved, sharing an smile.

“Considering your ethics, I took you for a Conservative,” Tony slyly replied, “I guess I was wrong.”

“You were,” Xavier confirmed.

“So,” Tony started, “Is what we have here the only batch of this cure left?”

“Yes, it is,” Carter answered, that was an obvious lie. “That’s why we need to have it secured as soon as possible and is why I want to surrender.”

Tony said as pulled his cuffs out to make the arrest.

“Put the bag down,” Tony instructed, “And raise both your arms into the air.”

Carter put the bag down and was in the process of raising his hands when he noticed something and tried to point it out.

“Behind you!” Xavier called out.

Tony tried to turn in the direction Carter was indicating but it was too late. Two bullets fired from a silenced weapon and ripped right into his chest. One of them would have killed the agent had the vest not stopped it from entering his heart. The other tore into his shoulder and produced a fair bit of blood, causing Agent deacon to fall to the ground. As he was falling, Tony’s body slammed into the body of one of the cars around him, hitting his head against the fiberglass frame, and upon hitting the concrete was knocked unconscious.

Carter picked the bag back up and tried to run but he was cornered and easy pickings. The shooter fired at the young doctor three times. Missing with the first shot and then connected with Carter with the other two. One of them hit him in the leg, but back part of his left thigh. The other connected with his shoulder, barely missing his lung. Carter hit the ground hard and the bag he was carrying hit the ground hard and slid across the asphalt a few feet away from him. Audrey Black slowly strolled up to where Carter was lying.

“Thank you for your co-operation, Dr. Carter.” She said with a grin as she picked the bag up.

“You don’t understand,” Xavier said as he tried to fight his way to his feet. “This cure can save so many people, why hide it?”

“Don’t take it personally,” Ms. Black replied, with a tone that almost sounded like she was boasting, “This is strictly business.”

Ms. Black and her people were let into the facility by a planted agent who was covering the back door, and the plan was to walk out with Carter’s cure before anyone watching the building suspected a thing. Her people were jamming transmissions and cell signals so with her weapon silenced, there was no way anyone would be able to tell that Agent Deacon and Dr. Carter were both in distress. By the time they were found, she’d be long gone with the cure.

“I apologize for shooting you,” Ms. Black continued, “But we need to repossess our property.”

“That’s my cure.” Xavier protested.

“You made this serum while working for us,” Ms. Black reminded the wounded man at her feet. “That makes this our property, and we’ll use it when whenever we see fit to do so and no sooner.”

“You can’t do that,” Xavier said as he tried to crawl towards her.

“Watch me,” Audrey said as she grew nerves of steel. Mr. Jones accused her of not being able to do her own dirty work but when everything was at stake, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. She had the fortitude to get the job done and was willing to cross any line without hesitation.

“This isn’t right!” Xavier gasped, trying to resist.

“I know it’s tough, Dr. Carter,” Ms. Black countered, “But even you have to be man enough to know when you’ve been beaten.”

“You’ll never get away with this!” Carter called back to her.

“I already have,” Audrey pointed her firearm at the man at her feet and fired three more times, killing him. The bug in her windshield had finally cleared from her sight. She even considered taking out the agent as well but thought better of it. Deacon hadn’t seen her before being shot so she was willing to take that risk to get what she had in the bag back to her building before the rest of the feds outside came bursting in.

Ms. Black strolled back to the staircase she came from and returned to the backdoor where the agent she paid off was waiting for her. She had put her gun back into her purse and gave the man a nod as she strolled out and was gone. All she had done was pervert justice and kill a wanted fugitive. In some parts of the country, that would be enough to get a key to the city. Her lawyers would have no problem refuting anything Agent Deacon might try to accuse her or her company of. She let out a cold laugh as she walked away from the parking garage confident she had won the day, unaware that it was a grave mistake.