Page 62 of Leave Me Behind
Eren’s eyes flick to Bradshaw’s and they share another silent conversation.
“What?” I pry.
Bradshaw glances down at me, but it’s Eren who says, “That outcome is possible, but highly improbable.” He doesn’t sound at all convincing, but I can’t think of a reason why he’d lie to me.
“So you’re betting both our lives?”
Eren narrows his eyes at me. “Don’t talk back to your sergeant, Nell. You think I’d put my own brother in jeopardy?”
I shake my head.He wouldn’t, that much I know.
“What will we do with them once their cover is blown?” Malice is laced into my tone.
Jenkins’s voice rolls smoothly through my veins with an unpleasant memory.“Traitors can be put down in two ways. In prison, fifty years after the crime, or when they choose to betray their comrades.”
I recall the way he shoved his blade into our comrade’s chest. One of them we had known for years and Jenkins let his body roll off a cliff without hesitation. His body was never recovered. He was declared MIA, as most of Riøt’s targets were.
I had asked,“Even if it’s not an order?”
Jenkins smiled cruelly.“Especially if it isn’t an order. Don’t let them die fifty years later after they’ve lived their life.”
His empty voice still haunts me from that cold day. Haunted me every time I watched the lights leave the eyes of traitors too. I didn’t know what they did, or why I was killing them. Orders were orders.
Except when they weren’t, then it was just Jenkins.
Bradshaw taps his arm uncomfortably.
Eren’s face twists at my question. “Arrest them, of course. Nothing will be done without my orders to do so. Is that clear, Bunny?” There is a flash of distrust in his gaze but I only nod.
“Of course, but… should it come down to it?” The meaning in my question lingers in the air between us. I’m set in my ways, Jenkins made sure of it.
Eren levels me an icy look. “I can’t imagine a situation where that would pan out.” I hold his glare for a moment before looking down at my hands and allowing one curt nod.
I can imagine plenty.
“Alright, you’re both dismissed. I’ll see your asses on the plane at zero five hundred.” Eren stands and leaves without another word.
Bradshaw doesn’t move, so I don’t either. I guess I’m his shadow now. A living bullet proof vest like Abrahm was. Somehow, that doesn’t scare me. I welcome the noble death, but curiosity and revenge throb through my veins too.
I want to know what monster could do this to their closest comrades. I want to know who’s after us.
“Was it you?”
My shoulders flinch. I look up at Bradshaw. His eyes are hardened but seeking the truth.
“Was it your bullet?” His eyes shift away as if he can’t bear to look at me.
I remember that day like each grain of sand trapped in an hourglass. I’ve only rerun the scenes a million times, over and over, until my mind was raw.
I stare at Bradshaw for a few moments. He looks back at me, eyes studying me carefully, trying to read everything I’m not saying.
“Fuck. I’m sorry,” Bradshaw says before I can respond. He nudges me softly before walking out, leaving me alone in the war room with dark thoughts.
Rats never seem to remember that snakes are hiding in the bird’s nest too.
twenty-four
. . .
