“I could torture you for days, weeks. I could kill everyone you know right in front of you, and you still wouldn’t give up the names of your accomplices.”
Reese wasn’t as confident about that. She couldn’t imagine idly standing by while this monster held a gun to Sloan’s head, or Rylan’s, anyone’s. She wouldn’t let him kill one of her people . . . she wouldn’t . . .
Would she?
She swallowed hard as she second-guessed herself. The vengeance she’d craved her whole life—that was what drove her. She didn’t believe in love. She didn’t believe in anything but her own need to destroy the Global Council.
Would she let them rip Bethany’s baby from her arms if it meant continuing forward with her plans to crush the GC? Would she let them kill Bethany? Kill Christine?
Reese desperately wanted to believe she wouldn’t. That she’d save the people she cared about. But . . . she couldn’t be sure.
Ferris saw her dark side, her ruthlessness, and that was the side he chose to believe.
“No, you’re not going to give anything up,” he said, making a tsking noise with his tongue. “You’re a coldhearted bitch.” He glanced over his shoulder at Dominik. “Unless you think torture could work in this case?”
Dominik shook his head. “Coldhearted bitch,” he agreed.
Something inside of Reese fractured. She wasn’t always cold. She burned so hot when she was with Sloan and Rylan. But maybe Ferris and Dominik saw the real her. Maybe she was coldhearted.
“All right then.” Ferris nodded. “This interrogation is over. Let’s skip to judgment.”
“Judgment?” Reese echoed.
“I’m going to recommend to the council that they sentence you to death.”
She wasn’t surprised. These bastards’ agenda was always murder.
“I want it to be public,” he continued. “The method of death will be firing squad. We can make an event of it. Have the citizens come out and see the enemy that they’re facing beyond the gates.”
His expression was bright, the first trace of emotion she’d glimpsed in his eyes. It looked like actual pleasure. Arousal, even. This man was a sick bastard.
“We’ll paint the streets red with your blood, and the people will cheer.” Ferris turned to the Enforcer who wasn’t Dominik. “Tablet, please.”
The man handed him a computing tablet. Ferris’s fingers moved over the screen, typing rapidly while Reese sat there with her gaze locked on Dominik, whose face revealed nothing.
Ferris finished up and handed the tablet back to the guard. “Send this execution order to the council. Secure the appropriate signatures.”
“Yes, Commander.” The Enforcer ducked out of the room, and Dominik followed suit without a backward glance.
Ferris looked at Reese and smiled. “I’d offer you food or water or other comforts, but . . . I’m not that kind of man. And you’re not the kind of woman who needs comforts, are you?” He scraped back his chair and stood up, tucking the folder under his arm. “It won’t take long for the execution order to be approved. No more than twenty-four hours. You can spend your last hours in this room, thinking about what you’ve done.”
Chuckling, he sauntered out and closed the door behind him.
A moment later, she heard a lock click into place.
25
Rylan’s eyes felt like they were composed of glue and sand by the time the tired group reached Connor’s camp. He tumbled out of the truck without acknowledging Sloan, who looked like death had kissed him. The entire ride over, Rylan had been telling himself that Sloan could rot in hell, but that did nothing to erase the disturbing image of Sloan’s face, creased with pain. The man had aged ten years in the last ten hours.
Rylan ached all over, inside and out. The physical pains would resolve by themselves. The internal pain was something he didn’t understand and wasn’t sure how to ease other than to get Reese back. It wasn’t right, leaving her behind. It had nothing to do with the fact that he’d slept with her. When he’d been part of the People’s Army, training for a rebellion that never happened, they’d drummed into him that a good soldier never left his brother behind.
He’d not only left Reese behind, but he’d all but abandoned her.
There had been no discussion about saving her, only Foxworth. And as much as Rylan enjoyed the town and its people, they only existed because of Reese. The whole damn town should have been riding toward West City, rattling the cages and demanding that the council release her. Instead, they’d come here to Connor’s camp with their tails tucked between their legs.
It pissed him off. He’d save her even if he had to trade himself to do it. All he needed was some intel. He needed to know where she’d been taken and who was going to pilot the Foxworth helicopter that was currently sitting in the north pasture field at Con’s camp.