The Apocalypse Emperor

Chapter 6: The money that wasn’t mine

Adrian stared at the screen until the numbers blurred.

$212,400. The account sat beneath his name as though he had opened it himself and forgotten. He had never taken part in a medical trial. He had never heard of Meridian Biosciences until an hour ago.

Beneath the deposit, the pending line hadn't changed.

Scheduled transfer: tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. Authorized by: R. Sullivan.

He called the bank. After three security questions, a representative confirmed the account existed and said she could file a dispute. "But the transfer is pending, sir. I can't guarantee it stops before processing."

"Who set it up?"

"An approved linked-party instruction. I can't share details by phone."

Adrian hung up. He could freeze the account, but that might destroy the only trail to whoever had built it. He needed to know why the money existed first.

On the company's website, smiling researchers posed in clean white labs. Among the partner institutions was the Meridian Corridor Research Facility.

Evelyn had told him to stay away from the Corridor. He remembered the dead stain on her carpet.

His phone rang. Ren.

"You still at the warehouse?"

"I found an account in my name. Two hundred thousand dollars. Meridian made the deposit."

The pause lasted one second too long.

"Adrian, I can explain."

"Then explain."

"Not on the phone. I don't know who's listening."

"Come here. Now."

Ren arrived twenty minutes later, jaw clenched, like a man who had driven the whole way rehearsing. He stopped at the sight of the laptop on the desk.

"You should have told me."

"I know."

"Start talking."

Ren pulled out a chair but didn't sit. "Four months ago, Nathaniel Brooks had me sign some papers for the loan. A linked-party form. He said it was routine, that it only gave him a contact on my side." He swallowed. "I didn't read it closely. I was drowning."

"That form named me."

"I think so. Yes."

"And the account?"

"I didn't know about it until Brooks called yesterday. He said money was coming in under your name and needed to be moved before a program shut down. He said you'd agreed."

"And you believed him."

"I wanted to." Ren's voice cracked. "I thought I was helping you get paid."

Adrian let the pressure behind his eyes build. Fragments crept through, tangled in shame.

...thought it was harmless...

...five thousand...

"Five thousand what?"

Ren went pale. "I didn't say anything."

"Five thousand, Ren."

He stared at the floor. "Brooks paid me five thousand to introduce you. He said it was a recruiting thing. A study. I told myself it was harmless."

There it was. Not everything, but enough to hurt. Adrian could hear the boundary of the confession in the way Ren stopped, the way he looked at the door. There was something else.

"You gave him my name for five thousand dollars."

"I know how it sounds."

"It sounds exactly like what you did."

Ren flinched, and for a moment he looked a lot like the man in the dead town, hollowed out and certain he deserved it. Adrian made himself look away.

Then his phone chimed.

An email, unread, subject line: Participant Confirmation.

He opened it.

Dear Mr. Cole, your participation status has been confirmed. Please attend your collection appointment at the Meridian Corridor Research Facility, tomorrow, 9:00 a.m. Attendance in person is required.

No signature. No sender name.

Ren read it over his shoulder, and the color drained from his face.

"You said you didn't know where the money was going," Adrian said.

"I didn't. I swear." Ren shook his head hard. "I never arranged that."

The pressure behind Adrian's eyes surged. Metal flooded his mouth, and one clear thought broke through Ren's panic like a hand through glass.

They said he wouldn't remember.

Adrian went still.

"Remember what?"

Ren blinked. "What?"

"You just thought about it. They said he wouldn't remember."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to."

Ren stumbled back a step. For the first time since Adrian had come back, his friend looked truly afraid of him, as if he were looking at something he had never seen.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Ren whispered.

Adrian believed him. That was the worst part. Fear this raw didn't come from guilt. It came from a man who had been told a secret he didn't understand.

He turned back to the screen.

He could freeze the account. He could stay away, finish the warehouse, and ride out October 13 as planned. That was the sensible choice. Evelyn had begged him to avoid the Corridor, and she had been right about everything else so far.

But someone had spent four months preparing for him. They knew his name, his bank, his friend. They had put money in his hands before he even woke up in this timeline, and they had done it quietly enough that he'd never have noticed.

If he stayed away, they'd simply find another way to reach him.

"Tomorrow," Adrian said, "we will find out who's behind this account. Until then, you don't touch it, contact Brooks, or speak to anyone from Meridian."

"I promise."

The word almost made him laugh. Promises had meant something once. Now they were just sounds people made when they wanted another chance.

Ren nodded and slipped out the door, quiet as a thief.

Adrian stayed where he was, looking at the email until the light shifted across the floor.

They said he wouldn't remember.

Remember what?