Page 26 of Survivor
My eyes filled with tears. “Shit. I’m sorry.”
There it was, that sad smile again.
Lore frowned and glanced my way. He was a sharp one, and he was probably picking up on the undertone here. The guys didn’t know about Braker’s past or why he wanted to help us. I’d need to make sure the decision we made was based on all the facts, which meant filling them in as soon as I got a chance.
Beside me, Vex crossed his arms and sat back, legs splayed in a classic male pose that screamed he was perfectly at ease.
“Well? Get to it,” he drawled.
Braker took a leisurely sip of his drink. “The port is a steady source of income for the Crimson Hand. It’s a nice little nest egg. However, the biggest source of income comes from the bi-yearly pit fights and the gauntlet. At least it used to. Income is dwindling; people are getting bored of the same old fights and the same old challenges year after year.” He paused, and his gaze flicked to me. “I think we can change that.”
I blinked up at him. “How?”
“Your pit fight won the house more money than any pit fight these past few weeks.”
Of course it did. People were betting on me to lose. “And?”
“The gauntlet is a run where the contestants work solo to get from A to B. The live feed shows each contestant in the network beneath the Cogs. But I want to shake things up.” His smile was decidedly wicked. “I know the full extent of what you’re capable of. They don’t, so I want to pit you against the other contestants.”
Wait, what? “You want me to play prey?”
“Prey? You’re not prey, Rogue, but they won’t know that. You survive. You get to the exit, and you win. Simple. In the meantime, you put on a damn good show.”
“You want me to kill the other contestants?”
“I want you to do whatever it takes to survive. Take the deal to put on a show for me, and I’ll put you in the gauntlet. Otherwise, you’re out. Shipless and stuck here until your pursuers find you.”
“No,” Vex said. “Fuck you.”
But my mind was whirring. “You’d do that? After what happened to Elena? You’d let it happen again?”
His face smoothed out, devoid of all emotion. “You’re not Elena. You’re not my problem.”
“But I was enough of your problem for you to order a hit on my friends.” He arched a brow as my brain clicked and made the connections. “This was your plan all along, wasn’t it? Whether the guys were with me or not. You planned to use me in your gauntlet …”
So much for him being an honorable man.
He was going to save me from the nasty Athions and use me in his games, but when he found out that they were on my side, he switched and brought them in, using them as leverage to get me to play his game. He knew I’d do it for them, for us.
He was right.
He shrugged. “Business is business.”
His crew looked uncomfortable, and Larcen was blatantly staring at his boss likewhat the fuck?
Tide shook his head. “No deal.”
Braker ignored him, his attention on me. “Rogue?”
I licked my lips. There was no other option. The guys knew it, but they were acting on instinct to protect me. It was up to me to do the right thing, the only thing that would get us off this port.
“I’m in.”
13
“We need to leave,” Vex said. “I don’t trust that guy.” He paced the private quarters Braker had given us.
Xavier was busy checking the room for bugs. Lore was sitting on the sofa, his expression thoughtful, and Tide stood by the holoscreen watching the pit fights depicted there.
