Achilles Greenburn's Arc

Chapter 8 of 9

The digging was set for morning, but Achilles wanted one more answer before any shovel touched the slab. He found Kira at the equipment shop, reading the brass plate with her arms crossed. "Andy knows more than he's said," Achilles told her. "He signed a work order on that clinic. He's been quiet about the rest." Kira didn't turn. "Then we ask him before we open the hatch. Anything we find down there, he already knows is missing." She picked up a red file box from the bench and tucked it under her arm. "Bring his paperwork. He'll talk faster if he sees we kept it." Marcus was at the office when they came up. Achilles stopped him at the door. "We need an hour with him. Alone." Marcus looked between them, then at the file box. "He stays in the chair. You don't leave him a way out the back." He stepped aside. "And whatever he gives you, I hear it before you act on it." Achilles nodded once. Marcus shut the door behind them. Andy sat with his boots flat and his hands loose on the table. He smiled when he saw the file box. "You kept the paperwork. That's a good sign for both of us." Kira set the box down and slid out the work order with his signature. Achilles sat across from him. "You knew about the second water line before you walked into this yard. You knew about the circled room. Tell us what you want." Andy didn't answer right away. He reached into his jacket and slid a battered keycard across the table. Rust along the edges. A faded red stripe across the top. "There's a door past the clinic floor. The blueprints don't show what's behind it because Vault-Tec didn't want them to. This opens it." He tapped the card once. "I want a cut of whatever's in that room. Not the medicine. Not the surgical kit. The room. Equal share with the three of you on the plate. My name on the brass next to yours." Kira picked up the card and turned it under the light. She checked the stripe, the corner wear, the chip slot. "It's real," she said. "Vault-Tec issue, lower tier, but the right tier for an unmarked room." She set it down between them. "He's not lying about the door." Achilles looked at Andy. "Why bring this now and not a week ago?" Andy shrugged. "A week ago you'd have shot me for it. Now you've got three partners and a hole to dig. Nobody works for smiles out here." Achilles took the brass punch from his belt and walked to the wall. He scratched a fourth name under the others. Andy. Then he pocketed the keycard. "You get the room. You don't get the medicine, and you don't get the clinic. Marcus hears this before the hatch comes up." Andy leaned back and smiled. The deal was sealed. The door behind the door now belonged to someone Achilles did not trust.