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"What are iven no new orders yet," he said "He awaits et from you now"

Fleischer and I locked eyes in this hts: You areto betray you, no matter our profession or the orders that either of us are ever given

No one but the two of us know that we share the same father But over the years since our recruit by the Order ere young boys, we have grown apart It is often easy to forget that we share the same blood, especially by Fleischer, first name Niklas, who has lived in my shadow in the Order for sothat Niklas would relay to our eut, whatever I needed him to

To retain the relationship between my brother and irl will be useful, Niklas," I repeated, calling him by his first name to offer a truce "It seems that she is more to Javier than Javier would like us to know"

Niklas nodded in response, understanding irl to trade for Guzhter," he stated

"If it cout that I have it under control, but that I will ahatever orders he chooses"

"I will tell hireed

I clicked on the ‘play’ button then to watch the video Javier sent to Vonnegut, in which Fleischer, asto irl’s friend, Lydia, in a coirl to see it, to know that if she doesn’t give herself up or convince me to take her back to him, Lydia will die I knew then as I watched the scene unfold on the video beforelord was far more brutal than the Order knew

I heard the shower shut off and I ranthe iPad down afterwards

The girl will be devastated If she finds out about this, it will e

With the recorded video now playing on the screen, I twist the iPad around on the table to face the girl’s direction She glances down at it for only seconds, the gun shaking in her grasp, and then back at ht make a move But when she sees her friend, Lydia, she turns her attention solely on the video, abandoning her upper-hand I don’t take advantage of it I slide irl’s eyes widen with trepidation as the video plays

Javier circles Lydia who sits bound to a chair, a red bandanna is stuffed in her mouth Tears and sweat soak her face Her left eye is swollen and bruised A trickle of blood beads from one nostril

"For you, Sarai," Javier says into the camera as Izel stands next to Lydia, her hair wrenched in Izel’s fist "I want you back here in thirty-six hours" The girl clasps her free hand over her treun hasn’t been pointed directly atseconds "Or she’ll die and it’ll be your fault"

Izel pulls back her fist and buries it in Lydia’s already bruised and beaten face Lydia’s bound body lurches backward andfroirl drops the gun on the floor and reaches for the iPad, shoving it clean off the table and then she falls to the floor onto her knees, sobbing into her hands

I sit down on the end of the bed, leaving the gun on the floor and the girl alone in her ht Through the burning tears, through the blur in front ofout my nervous system My body has somehow found its way onto the floor I lay with ainst the carpet

Not Lydia…anyone but her She’s innocent and frail She’ll never be able to endure it Not liketo coun, that I’er the one in control Oneof e from me And I deserve it I deserve whatever punishot away and Lydia didn’t I should have used the phone not five feet frohtstand between the beds, to call the police I should have called them before I forced hi what information Victor knew that I didn’t I had still hoped thatto tell the authorities

I should have shot him when I had the chance

From the corner ofon the floor Tilting my head back just a little, my eyes trail from the botto the length of the tops of his legs, the pal his knees He sits with his back fairly straight, his gaze fixated out ahead

Finally, his head moves as he averts his eyes to me

"I am sorry," he says with absolutely no emotion in his words, yet somehow I detect the faintest hint of emotion hidden behind his eyes

"You have to takeinto a stand "You can’t let her die" My voice treins to sift through his duffle bag I don’t care to knohat he’s doing or what he plans to do from here on out Mostly what I think about is Lydia and what I saw on that video; that ie will be seared into my mind forever A part of me wants to blame Victor for all of this, simply because he is what he is and that he could’ve becoet her out of there But I’ myself because, in truth, I never once asked Victor to help me free her He refused to help o back there for her

It’s all s differently, planned my escape differently I could have forced Lydia out that ith s I could have and should have done I never i into the scary house or tripping over uess by default we’re all the ones shaking our heads at the stupidity of others until we’re forced into trauht slowly begins to flood the rooht was to turn onto hts I’m not afraid of him Not anymore But I couldn’t help but knohere he was, nonetheless

My back hurts and my face itches from the imprint the scruffy carpet left on my skin

Victor sits in the chair next to the table noith his shoes on as if he’s been quietly waiting for the day to co body from the floor and push myself into a stand

"I don’t care anymore what you do with me," I say "Just please take me back to Javier I don’t have much ti back to the compound"