Z 2134

yet I did nothing. And then, when I was called onto the scene where your wife was murdered, it killed me to know that it would never have happened had I told the truth. You’d still have your wife and your son, and you’d still be living within The Walls of City 6, happily ever after. Well, maybe not, if someone was setting you up. But perhaps I could’ve intervened and spared you some of the heartache. Maybe I could have made a difference. But I didn’t. I was a coward. And for that, I am sorry, Mr. Egan.”
    Egan stared, emotionless despite Jonah’s plea.
    Is he waiting for something else?
    Jonah continued, hoping to find the right combination of words to change the man’s mind.
    “I have no problem paying for my sins, and I tried making amends with years of service in the Underground, helping rebels behind The Wall. In that time I probably made a bigger difference than anyone else, at least when it came to raw numbers, constantly furthering the cause. I wanted to try to undo some of the wrongs that I’d done.”
    Jonah didn’t want to cry, even if it would help draw Egan’s sympathy, and hated his eyes for welling up.
    “If my attempted amends aren’t enough to pay for my mistakes, well,” Jonah held Egan’s stare, “then I’m happy to pay with my life. But not yet,” he shook his head. “Not while my daughter’s in danger, and not when I can still help her. Please, Egan. Let me go, let me find Ana and save her — she shouldn’t have to pay for my crimes.”
    For a second, Jonah thought he had reached Egan, that maybe his words had slipped through some small chink in the man’s emotional armor.
    Then it was gone, as if he had never seen it at all.
    Egan’s eyes remained stone dry as he leaned into Jonah. “My family paid for my supposed crimes against The State. So perhaps its only justice that yours pay for your crimes. An eye for an eye, two lives for two lives. Yes, that sounds just to me. In a few hours you can make your case at your trial. Perhaps you’ll find the mercy I was denied.”
    Egan then turned away and left the room without saying another word.
    Jonah’s eyes met Father’s, seeing a look that Jonah knew all too well. It was the look you give a dead man moments before he is sentenced.

CHAPTER 21 — Liam Harrow
    L iam was careful to vary his walk, occasionally pulling ahead of the group, or falling slightly behind, making sure they saw him as a minimal threat, absorbing the inane chatter from the men while trying to ignore Chloe’s siren’s song in his ear.
    The longer he walked behind her, the more he wanted to fuck her. But each time he caught himself staring at her ass, he turned his attention to Marcus’s giant ass instead, splashing cold water on his libido. Thankfully, it was a trick that had worked each time over the course of the hour they’d been walking together.
    “I prefer a blade,” Keb said.
    “Why would anyone prefer a blade?” Chloe asked, turning to the tattooed leader, or at least the guy too dumb to realize the leader was Chloe. “A blade is only slightly better than nothing, and a great way to get yourself dead.”
    Keb shook his head. “You’re only saying that since you’re a girl, and hand-to-hand’s not your thing. But Marcus would agree. Guns are too easy, a lot like your crossbow. A knife is up close, personal, and the only way to really taste the kill.”
    “You’re an asshole,” Chloe said. “Why would you want to get that personal? What in the hell is wrong with you? It’s no wonder you’re outside The Wall.”
    Liam winced as she said it — the third such comment directed at Keb in the last half hour or so. Chloe’s subtle personal attacks were designed, Liam was certain, to create some tension among the men — the sort of comments that were likely dormant before Liam entered the picture.
    “Tasting your kill tells you who you are,” Keb said. “And if you expect to survive out here and make it to City 7, you need to know who you are.” Keb clenched and unclenched his fist as he walked, shifting his sword from left to right, whipping its curve against the wind.
    “Why do I get the feeling you volunteered your way outside The Wall like an idiot?” Chloe said. “Seems like you get off on this.”
    Keb shrugged. “One man’s idiot is another man’s genius. We’ll see who’s stupid when I’m sipping cocktails in City 7. I’ve been waiting for this since I was a kid. I’m finishing this shit nice and alive.