There was a time where I loved and respected you. You were my role model. You were my hero. Guess when that changed.”
I said nothing.
“You know when it changed. You know exactly when I began to hate you.”
Again I said nothing.
Aisha’s face darkened.
“Say it. Say her name.”
“There was nothing I could do.”
“You lie.”
“It’s true. Nothing would have saved your mother.”
She slammed her fist on the operating table.
“Bullshit! You were only thinking about yourself.”
I said nothing. There was nothing for me to say. Twenty years had passed and she had held onto this all that time. While I had entered into a kind of depression, Aisha had let the loss open a hole in her heart that grew wider and wider through the years. Now she had become enraged at the mere notion that her father could have saved her mother but instead chose to do nothing.
I asked, “What are you getting out of this?”
“What do you think? I’m getting the only thing that matters.”
Despite the metal clamp restraining my neck, I moved my head slowly from side to side.
“It won’t work.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I do.”
“For decades, they’ve been trying to find a cure for cancer, and now I will bring them one. And not just cancer—all diseases. Imagine that: a world where nobody gets sick. Where nobody is forced to watch their loved ones wither away in a hospital bed. No more reason for people to feel helpless anymore.”
“You’ll become a billionaire. Buy all the brownstones you want.”
“This isn’t about money. I made that clear to Roger at the start. I don’t want anything from this. I plan to make the treatment free. Or at the very least cheap enough that it’ll be affordable to everyone. I understand pharmaceutical companies won’t be happy about it. They’ll do whatever they can to stop the research, to keep the cure out of everyone’s hands. But I’m going to make it work.”
“Interesting how you justify your actions.”
“Fuck you. You have no right to judge me.”
“I think I do. You killed your brother.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Roger’s people did, and I assume it was because you gave them the idea of using James’s DNA to create Monarch’s super soldiers.”
She shook her head.
“You have no idea what’s going on.”
“What about Yolanda and the kids?”
Aisha said nothing.
“I’m guessing you were the one who went there that night. Not by yourself, though. No, you went with a few of Roger’s men. But you were the one Yolanda saw when she looked out the window. That’s why she opened the door, invited you in. But Roger’s men, they came into the house too. They were the ones who killed Yolanda and the kids. Tell me, Aisha, did you watch when Roger’s men cut off their heads?”
Despite her best effort to steel herself, Aisha looked away. Stared at the wall for several long seconds, then sighed.
“In case you’re wondering, I was never jealous of James. Him being Temple, it was never something I ever wanted to do. I want to help people, yes, but not like that.”
“You allowed your fiancé to be murdered.”
She shrugged.
“He was an asshole. The only reason we were together was because I needed his money to start my foundation. There was never really any love between us, at least on my end.”
I stared at her. This wasn’t my daughter. The one who had wanted me to tuck her in at night on those rare occasions I was actually home. The one who sat on my lap when we watched cartoons. The one who told me she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up.
“Your fiancé may have been an asshole, but what about Hector?”
The light in her eyes dimmed at the sound of his name.
“That was unfortunate, but there was no other option. If anything, it’s your fault—you made him stay there to watch after me. I told you I would be fine.”
There was a silence, both of us watching the other.
I said, “When did Roger approach you with this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said you didn’t bring the idea to Roger. So he must have brought it to you. How long were you both planning this? Did you talk to your brother in the meantime? Did you play with his children?”
“I actually brought up the idea to James. I asked him if he’d let me test his blood. I told him there was a chance that we could potentially find a cure for cancer. That we could save the world. But he wouldn’t listen to me. He said it wouldn’t work.”
“He was right.”
“Shut up.”
“Neither you nor Roger know what you’re doing. You’re just working on speculation. You think you understand what it is inside my body—inside James’s body—but you have no idea. Roger said because James started sniffing around they had to take him out. Which means they had to come for me. Which still doesn’t make sense, because there was no way you or your brother knew where to find me.”
Aisha said nothing.
“You must have tested this beforehand. Roger wouldn’t have gone to this length unless there was substantial evidence this could work.”
I paused.
“Aisha, who was that at Central Park? Who was Temple?”
For an instant doubt crept into her eyes. Like she was beginning to second-guess everything. Maybe the little girl who used to give me hugs every morning was still there, trying to break past the woman whose heart had grown cold. But just as quickly as the doubt flashed in her eyes, it was gone. She shook her head, started back toward the door leading out of the room.
“I killed her.”
Aisha paused at the sound of my voice, her back still to me.
“I couldn’t bare to watch her another second. Her suffering … it was too much. You and your brother had left—to get some coffee or to take a nap in the lobby, I don’t remember which—and I was alone with her and I just wanted the suffering to end.”
Aisha turned, slowly, her glare burning into me.
“What did you do?”
“I used a syringe. I found a vein in my arm and I filled that syringe with my blood and I inserted that blood into one of her veins. I had the same thought as you did—I thought that I could somehow save her. I’d been so hesitant, knowing in my heart that it wouldn’t work, but I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least try.”
She took a slow, unsteady step toward me. When she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.
“What happened?”
“At first nothing. A whole minute passed and there was no change. Then another minute passed and there was still nothing. I thought maybe the blood wouldn’t do anything after all. Or I thought maybe I needed to give her more. Then … then she began convulsing. Violently. I tried to hold her down, tried to calm her, but she wouldn’t stop. She started foaming at the mouth. The blood vessels in her eyes burst. She had a seizure right there in my arms. I called for help, and the doctors and nurses came running. They did what they could to save her, but it was no use. Minutes later you and your brother arrived. Do you remember?”
Aisha nodded, the movement so slight it was almost imperceptible.
“You … you looked stricken. I thought you were blaming yourself for not doing anything. I thought … I thought that’s why you were so upset.”
“No. The reason was because I had done something. I killed her.”
“But she was dying. If anything, you put her out of her misery.”
“I didn’t see it like that at the time. All I knew was that I had somehow accelerated her death. That’s why I didn’t stay for the funeral. Not after what I’d done. Especially not after what I had done to Prometheus.”
“You murdered him, didn’t you?”
“He had killed too many people. I figured he deserved to die.”
Aisha said nothing. She just stared at me. Again I thought I saw the little girl in her eyes, the one that knew the difference between right and wrong. But then she shook her head.
“It may not have worked for Mom, but it will work. I’ll make sure of that.”
She turned, having finally steeled herself, and exited the room.
I was alone.
Until, a minute later, he appeared again. Temple. He stepped inside the room and slowly approached me. There was something familiar about him, a distant smoky odor. Then he was standing beside me, in the same spot Aisha had stood just minutes before, and without a word he reached up and pulled the mask off his head.
Holding the mask at his side, Darrell smiled down at me.
“Hey there, brother.”