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The Fitbit he'd given Vaughn du Clark had been the best idea Major had had in ages. He'd added some tech he got from another old football buddy—damn, those boys were useful, spread out as they were across the industries of Seattle—so that he could try to prepare for the inevitable moment when du Clark decided tailing him and blackmailing him weren't quite enough and he needed to be tested to prove that he could be trusted.
He'd heard enough on the recording so far, muffled as it had been by du Clark's sleeve, to know that a test was coming, just not what it would be, or when. So he waited, and he upped his training game. When he inevitably took down Max Rager, Vaughn du Clark was going to be the fittest guy in prison.
He was packing up after a late session when the door opened, admitting Dr. Lockett, officially Max Rager's foremost developer, and almost certainly unofficially affiliated with whatever du Clark had going in the underground lab.
Major got to his feet. "Dr. Lockett! Looks like we're both putting in some OT."
Before he could say any more, the doctor put his finger to his lips. "Shh."
Moving closer, Major waited to hear what this would be about.
"I'm going to expose Max Rager," the doctor said. "I'm taking all our research to the press."
"Why tell me this?" Was any of what the doctor had on Max Rager or Vaughn du Clark likely to implicate Major? He thought rapidly, wondering if his first two kills were documented somewhere, with evidence, just in case. He wouldn't put it past du Clark—or Rita, for that matter. Maybe Lockett was offering him a chance to get out in front of the inevitable fallout.
Looking around, Lockett stepped closer. "Because if I fail—if I suddenly just disappear like my predecessors—you need to be the one to tell the world what goes on here."
Ah. Well, that made sense. To the outside world, Major had only the most tangential connection with Max Rager. The CEO's personal trainer hardly had a stake in the company's future—he could always get more clients, after all. He'd make a credible witness to what he might claim to have observed in the course of his training sessions.
"About your work. About my work," Lockett went on. "About the existence of zombies."
Even though he had known what they were talking about, the word spoken out loud here in a place as normal as a gym startled Major. He suspected Lockett had meant it to.
Without another word, Lockett held out a data stick, and Major took it from him. This felt strange—Lockett was very calm. Weren't whistleblowers supposed to be afraid? Especially whistleblowers who knew about the existence of zombies and knew the company they were about to betray was perfectly willing and able to kill them? Or maybe he had worked past all that and he was prepared for whatever happened. Major could believe someone in Lockett's position must have given himself up for dead by now.
"How long do you want me to sit on this?" he asked. "Just hold it until you disappear?"
Lockett frowned. "Exercise your own judgment. But … if I disappear, it's probably too late. You know what they're capable of."
Yes, he did. "All right."
"Thank you. And good luck." The doctor nodded to him briskly and left the room.
So, was this the test? It could so easily be legit. A man in Lockett's position, a man who had taken the oath to do no harm, a man who knew everything that went on here and was in a perfect position to document it? Major was so tempted. He wanted to know what was on the data stick. He wanted to take it to the press and watch them knock down Vaughn du Clark's door and haul him away in chains … but what would that do for Liv? If people in authority found out about zombies, they would take them out with no more hesitation than du Clark had—and they wouldn't use a blackmailed lackey with a conscience to do it, either. They'd round up everyone like Liv and put them in cages and probably run experiments on them before they executed them as being a danger to the public.
On the other hand, with du Clark out of the way, Max Rager's secret experiments would stop, and maybe there would be no more zombies. Ravi would have a free hand in creating a cure, and Liv would take it and Major would take an updated version that wouldn't wear off, and life would go back to normal. He wanted that. He wanted that so much he was willing to consider believing in anything that might get him there.
Well, he wasn't going to decide anything standing here like a statue. Major opened up his bag and tucked the data stick in with a roll of socks. No sense leaving it where it could be easily found, no matter what he was going to do with it.