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.Since.I lay down again, curled up, the only semi comfortable position possible.I let my right arm dangle down between the bars of the cage floor.Perhaps something lurked down there in the shadows and would leap up and bite my arm right off.That would be pretty funny.Then I'd bleed to death, which would be A O--fucking--kay with me.I looked up at the cable supporting the cage.It ran though a pulley wheel, fixed into the rock by a single bolt.If I started swinging the cage maybe it could rip the bolt right out of the ceiling.Would the fall kill me? The cage had no apparent door.I must have been welded in to it.I couldn't expect to leave in a hurry then.Maybe I'd be left up here until I wasted away and my bones fell between the bars to plunge down and shatter on the rock below.I'd never thought a lot about dying before.I'd thought a lot about making sure I didn't die.Could I really welcome death? Shouldn't I be grateful that I'd survived?No, because I hadn't 'survived'.I survived that time the assassins came into our camp, because I'd still been alive after the assassins died.That's not how it happened this time.This time I'd been allowed to live.So no, I wouldn't be left up here to waste away.Someone had plans for me.Once they put them into effect, I got the feeling I'd soon wish for death.Death.Ilyan's dead.My brain still found it hard to let the thought in.All of them dead.Jia, Rish, Maiga.I wondered if my still being alive would have ticked Maiga off.Scoring more points off her.All my friends.Dead.And I failed.I failed to protect Ilyan.I'd pledged to protect him and, at the moment of greatest danger, I'd left his side.Could I kill myself by shoving my hand right down my throat and choking myself? Or maybe I would I bleed to death if I ripped out my tongue?I was so full of shit.If I really wanted to die I'd be dead or making it happen right now.So why did I want to live? There could only be one reason.I had a new job now.Pretty simple job description.Revenge.A grinding noise started somewhere above me and the cage began to move.Instinctively I grabbed at the bars.But it didn't fall.Rather it descended slowly, in a controlled way, until it stopped, hanging only a meter or so off the floor, swaying gently.I waited, in a crouch, coiled up, expectant.As if I could do actually do something.A door in the rock wall opened and I saw a man framed in the doorway.The lights in the cell brightened as he walked in.He was a tall, thin man, in his thirties, wearing a dark blue one piece.He had mid-brown skin, neatly cropped dark hair and a refined face with a slender nose and delicate mouth.No point in wasting time.I started to hate him immediately.Three guards followed him in.Two took up position either side of me.Another brought in a chair and placed it facing my cage."Good day, Sergeant Jadeth," the man I hated said."I am Major Imtiaz.I trust your wound is not troubling you too much."Good thing I'd got that head start on hating him."Hello, Major Imtiaz.Excuse me not standing up, but you seem to have me sealed into a small cage here.Perhaps instead I can just tell you to fuck off and die."Imtiaz gave a small smile.My hatred found a new level."I will be conducting your interrogation," he told me."So we get to spend lots of time together? Oh goody."There was something about him that brought out the major sarcasm reflex in me.I couldn't help it.Even Maiga only had about a tenth of the effect."How much time we spend together depends on how cooperative you're willing to be." He sat in the chair.He didn't look for the chair.He didn't even glance around to make sure he wasn't about to put his skinny arse onto a whole lot of nothing.He just expected the chair to be there for him when he wanted to sit."I expect you're wondering why you are still alive.""No, I'm wondering how long you'll be alive after I get out of this thing.""I'm afraid that won't be for some time.""Oh no." The needle broke off my sarcasm meter."Please don't leave me here in the Steel Cage of Doom.Whatever shall I do?"Imtiaz frowned and bent forward, apparently not enjoying being my straight man."Perhaps you don't understand the gravity of your situation, Jadeth
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