Read Online The Phoenix Crisis by Richard L. Sanders - Free Book Online

and
looked the prisoner in his defiant eyes. Rafael remained
silent.
    “ You know, we have ways of
making things a whole lot better for you… and a whole lot worse .”
    Still no reaction from Rafael.
    “ He hasn’t said a damned
thing all day,” said the guard. “Shall I keep starving him and
limiting his water?”
    “ No, we don’t want him to
die,” said Zane. He found the sight of Rafael in this condition
oddly amusing. Almost like he was observing a puzzle that was just
a few pieces away from being solved. Despite the prisoner’s mighty
display of resilience and defiance, something about him looked on
edge of giving way.
    “ Good idea sir,” said the
guard. “He’ll talk sooner if he has to keep pissing and shitting
himself.”
    Judging by the looks of things there had
already been a fair amount of that, and goose bumps on the
prisoner’s skin revealed he didn’t like the cold air blasting him
from the vent.
    “ In time you will
cooperate,” said Zane, looking Rafael squarely in the eyes. “And
you will ask Calvin the questions I demand you ask him.”
    “ And if I don’t?” said
Rafael at long last.
    “ Then everyone and
everything you love will start disappearing—starting with your
fingers and toes.”
    In response, Rafael spit again. This time a
large mucousy glob that landed on Zane’s hand-made suit. The guard
nearest him whipped out a handkerchief and started dabbing at the
spit and the guard with the torture instruments withdrew an
electric stun baton and jammed it hard into Rafael’s ribs, shocking
him with pain.
    “ I’m sorry about that,
Boss,” said the closest guard.
    “ No matter,” said Zane. He
could buy every suit on Capital World if he wanted—and every
company that made them—and he’d never feel the slightest difference
in his wealth. “But do show our guest that we mean business. Index
finger, left hand, see that it’s gone.”
    “ Yes, sir,” said the guard
next to Rafael. He picked up a pair of pruning shears and
approached the prisoner, who squirmed against his
chains.
    “ The more you take from me
now, the less I’ll have to lose tomorrow. And the easier it will be
to resist you,” said Rafael. He did a good job of showing no fear
in his voice, even though it was clear as day on his
face.
    Zane smirked. In another life he would have
liked to have this one working for him. “Just remember, you are the
one making things hard on yourself. Don’t be your own enemy. It’s
time for you to look to your own needs. Rather than protecting
those who’ve abandoned you.”
    “ Go to hell ,” said Rafael.
    “ Oh I intend to,” said Zane.
“And the way things are going, it looks like you’ll be getting
there first. Be sure to save a place for me.”
     
    ***
     
    Three hours had passed since the Arcane
Storm and the Nighthawk parted ways. Now the battered stealth ship
was gliding seamlessly through alteredspace. Calvin had some time
to kill, and the chance to mentally prepare himself for the
rendezvous. He hadn’t forgotten how easily and completely Kalila
had charmed him the last time they’d met face to face, and he
didn’t want to bend to her will like hot steel in a fire. If he was
going to work with her, and trust her, she needed to earn that
trust. And until she’d been properly acquitted in his mind for the
attack on Renora, he knew he had to be on his guard with her. And,
if it turned out that she was behind the attack that had led to
mass chaos and civilian deaths in the scores of thousands… that
made her an enemy, not a friend.
    He lay in his bed in the darkness, staring
up at the ceiling. He wanted to catch up on sleep—he hadn’t
properly slept since the Remus mission—but his excitement,
curiosity, and anxiety of the encounter to come forced him awake.
He tossed and turned for the better part of twenty minutes before
resigning himself to lie awake.
    He remembered the princess’s beautiful face
in his mind, like an echo of a warmer