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was following in Claude’s footsteps, and then paused, as if he were changing his mind, and walked to Eugene.  
    The man stood again and he put his hands out in front of him. “Stop,” he commanded. “Stay where you are.”
    Standing tall, Eugene towered over Scott. Everything about him loomed large, and Scott began to assess if this was possible, if he could be quick enough, confident enough, to pull off Huck’s request. His mind worked overtime as he watched Eugene’s eyes hone in on him like a caged animal plotting his escape. He had to know his time was over. He could smell it in the air.
    “I agree with you...the Elektos Board should be an elected body,” Scott said and he took a small step forward. He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “It makes sense.” He stopped in front of Mrs. Brikham and closed his eyes for just a half-second. “And I’m sorry. There is no other way.” With a quick motion, he plunged the needle into her neck, pushed the poison into her jugular, and left the syringe dangling from her flesh.  
    Mrs. Birkham yipped and cussed, and grasped at the foreign object. She fell forward to the table, white foam forming at the edges of her mouth. In the moment it took for Eugene and Charles to realize what had happened and rush forward to her aid, Scott had brandished the virus filled needles in both hands and jabbed the men simultaneously: one into Eugene’s hand, the other into his son’s stomach.
    By the time they realized they, too, had been attacked, the vicious concentration of heart-stopping pathogens had already started working, decelerating their systems, blurring their vision, and slowing their breathing. Within fifteen seconds, they were dead. Their eyes rolled upward, their bodies only heaps on the ground. Scott stepped to the wall and took a deep breath. It was done. It was over.
    “Are they contagious?” Gordy asked, covering his mouth and nose with his jacket. The Elektos Board began to yell into their microphones, their voices merely tinny screeches from afar. Huck leaned down and pushed the mute button. The room went strangely quiet.
    Scott shook his head. “Of course not. It’s not the same as before. Just stay away from the bodies as a precaution, of course. And I do want them brought to my lab for further testing.” He hated that it made him sound callous and detached, because it could not be further from the truth. He wanted to examine them closely because he had yet to test this batch on humans, and his mind was racing with the hope that he had improved upon his original design. He would take great care of their bodies, as specimens, as contributors to science.
    “But we can release this one in the air, too?” Huck asked, stepping closer to Eugene’s body, tiptoeing. Scott nodded.
    They took stock of the room—the screens around them moving with talking heads, pointing fingers. Huck reached and pushed the volume button again and the room once again erupted with noise.  
    “We demand to know what just happened!” Roman yelled.
    “This is outrageous,” Victor said.
    Huck sat back down at his seat and straightened his camera. He looked directly into the screen. “Settle down, settle down,” he said. And when the Elektos Board failed to listen to him, his face turned red, a vein throbbed in the middle of his forehead, and he yelled wildly. “You will listen to me! I command your attention.”
    The Board stopped talking. They looked at their screens and waited; Huck was illuminated by the glow of their screens.  
    Claude reentered the room, followed by six guards in full protective gear. Blair slipped back in behind them and when she saw the bodies, she brought her hand up over her mouth, and pushed herself into the corner of the room, holding her bag up against her chest like a shield. The men worked efficiently to clear the Brikham’s bodies out of the boardroom. They disposed of the needles in a metal case, and hauled the family out like