Page 45 of Breaking Point
Luciana sipped the coffee.She was starting to think more freely now.
Whatdideveryone want?Politics was just buying and selling with a different name.Brice had said that.
She dismissed the reminder, and concentrated instead on thinking about the people who seemed to have a stake in what happened to Devar.
Then she sat up.“I think…I have an idea.”
Rayen smiled and got to her feet.“I’ll get more coffee.”
“And a sober shot,” Luciana called after her.“I’ve got work to do.”
Chapter Seventeen
BRICE HAD NEVER BEEN INthe security section of the Bridge before.He couldn’t say that he liked it much, even though it had the same décor as the Bridge, with the white walls and gleaming floors.He didn’t know if it was his imagination, yet it seemed to him that a scent hung in the air.Was it the aroma of desperation?
He circled the narrow table one more time.The tiny hexagonal room had to be stuffed full of monitoring devices.Audio, visual, bio…they wouldn’t leave anyone alone in here without them.
Not that he had any real idea of how this place ran from day to day.
And he didn’t give a damn right now.He stopped to pinch the skin over his nose as his head gave out a heavy thump.The headache had lodged behind his eyes about three days ago and refused to quit despite analgesics and sleep aids.Not that he had slept, either.His pillow didn’t induce sleep.It tipped his mind into an endless worn track that had no exit.
Plus, he wasn’t walking enough.His leg was starting to lock up, the way it had been when he’d first stepped out of the hospital after the accident.
How had it come to this?Yet even that, he couldn’t answer.
The door on the other side of the little room opened and Devar Todd stepped through.
Bryce stopped on the other side of the table and examined the man.
And I thought I had it tough, his mind whispered.He had seen Todd at the soiree in the spring.Little resemblance was left of that happy man in this shell of a human standing across from him.
Brice had been braced to explain to Todd that talking to him was a waste of time.Yet now he found himself saying, “Is there anything you need?Anything I can have brought to you?”
“Surprisingly, I’m treated well,” Todd said.“No water boarding.”
“What is water boarding?”
“Something I picked up from history books.Jail is a strange species on theEndurance.I have a food printer to myself, access to all the databases, except the Forum, and a full bathroom.It’s civilized.”
“Only the door is still locked from the other side,” Brice pointed out.
“Well, there is that,” Todd admitted.
“You asked me to come and speak to you.I don’t know if there is anything we can talk about.My position as president of the Tankball Association has rigid limitations.”
“I asked you to speak to me about the one thing you and I have in common,” Todd said.“My mother.”
Brice’s gut twisted.“We don’t have her in common anymore.”
Todd’s eyes narrowed.“It may look that way, only you flinched, just then.”He put his hands in his pockets.“Iwasgoing to tell you that you can think what you like about me, but if you think hurting her is part of winning, you’re worse than what they say.Only, you just flinched.”
“I have a headache, that’s all,” Brice said carefully.
“You have to shield her from what’s coming.”
Brice drew in a breath, riding out his reaction.Devar Todd didn’t need his pity.
The man leaned on the table, his stare intense.Urgent.“She underestimates herself when it comes to anything but what’s in her heart.She won’t reach out to anyone for help.She thinks she doesn’t deserve it, that getting help makes her weak.And she can’t…” Devar swallowed.“I don’t want her to be alone, when the end comes.”
