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“At least I’m giving him a choice,” said Cait. “Kinder than your plans.” She turned to Pearce. “Now tell me. How do I find the arsenal?”
Pearce looked between me and Cait, his cheekbones hollower than ever.
He looked as if he had no idea what Cait meant.
“Tell me,” she said, pressing the gun to his forehead.
“No,” Pearce finally said, apparently perfectly aware of what she meant. “That is not for you to know.”
My heart picked up speed. Did this mean it was?—
“It’s real,” whispered Lachlan, coming to the same realization I had. “Tell us how to get to it.”
“If I give you access to those weapons there will soon be an uprising. I would die anyway,” said Pearce matter-of-factly. “You said you were giving me a choice, correct?”
“I have no interest in an uprising,” said Cait. “I have reason to believe the arsenal contains far more than weapons. Isn’t that right?”
“I will tell you nothing,” said Pearce.
“Then you’ll die today,” said Cait.
Pearce didn’t bat an eye. “I’m an old and weary man. If you had all the knowledge I do, you’d see how little my death perturbs me.”
“But what about pain?” said Cait, her voice low. “Would that perturb you?”
Lachlan frowned with disapproval. Clearly, he hadn’t agreed to torture the man. “Let’s stick to the plan,” he said.
“If you supportmyplans, Graham will be king and things will get better!” I said.
“I’m finished with this city!” Cait shook her head, fury in her eyes. “I can’t go on like this—being ranked, confined within a wall, and controlled. I won’t stop until I find a way to leave this hell behind for good, and this man’s knowledge is our best resource!”
I stared back at her, becoming aware of the sting of my tears as I saw the pain and anger in her eyes.
Cait faced Pearce again. “Tell me how to get to the arsenal or I’ll kill you. I swear I will.”
He watched us with an unsettling aura of amusement. “I have sworn to protect the arsenal with my life and I would sooner die than break my oath. Besides, I have no one left. My wife’s gone. My only grandchild is gone. All I have is my killer of a son rotting in prison, which makes me all the more eager to escape the shame he’s placed on me.”
His grandson. He believed Dominic was dead since the Academy hadn’t found the boat and the men who held him captive.
Cait’s figure stayed alert, and she seemed more alive than I’d seen her since we returned to the city.
I began to understand her eagerness. If the arsenal was so important that Pearce was willing to die to keep it from us, it had to hold treasures far more valuable than guns and radios. Maybe there really was a way to either leave this city or change it for the better. Perhaps there were ways to help Graham take the thronewhilekeeping Cael from power.
Cait looked back at me, the emotion in her eyes no longer striking me as unhinged. She wanted freedom, not murder.
And I wanted the same thing.
I looked back at Pearce. “Would it motivate you if you found out your grandson was alive?”
“Dominic?” asked Pearce, his weary eyes lighting up. “It cannot be true.”
Cait nodded, her jaw set in determination. “It is true, and we can prove it if you tell us how to get into the arsenal.” She glanced at my fallen clutch on the ground, keeping both hands fixed on the gun against Pearce’s head. “Get out the radio.”
Pearce’s face paled. “He can’t be alive! Sir Ruskin said he was killed—by Kenneth.” His lip curled. “Murdered by his own father. Do you expect me to believe you instead?”
“We do,” said Cait, “because you’re about to hear his voice.”
I pulled out my radio and tuned it to channel X, the one Keane had told us to use.
