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He slept, he supposed. He wasn’t sure. But he became aware of the door opening and the same man entering their room. Grim pulled himself up, meeting Cedro’s eyes as the man came to stand before Cedro’s cage. “You’ve been rented.”
Here we go.He didn’t look at Cedro for risk of throwing him off in any way. The kid started to cry, but this time his cries were manufactured. Big gulping sobs as he sputtered and begged. “Exit or I tase you,” the man told him.
Cedro hung his head, his shoulders shaking as he cried for another moment. “Wait,” he said, reaching back and grabbing his last peppermint. “Please.”
The man looked slightly confused but then smiled slowly. “Sure,” he said. “A last supper. Enjoy.”
Cedro curled his shoulders forward and crawled on his knees slowly to the front of the cage while the man stepped back. Cedro stood and unwrapped the candy slowly, placing it in his mouth and sighing. The man jerked his head, and Cedro began to walk but then suddenly stopped short, bringing his hands to his throat.
Grim moved to the front of his cage. “Cedro!”
The man with the Taser had taken another step back as Cedro began flailing, his face turning beet red now as he brought his hands to his throat once more.
“Jesus, he’s choking. Help him!” Grim called. “Beat him on the back!”
The guard hesitated but then stepped forward, using his fist to beat Cedro’s back over and over.
Grim didn’t even notice when Cedro picked the key from his pocket. For a moment, he doubted if he had. But then Cedro drew in a big gasping breath, lowering his hands and drawing his shoulders back. There were tears streaking down his red-tinged skin. He drew in another breath, and then another, turning his foot slightly in the sign they’d agreed on through their prayer language.
Grim wanted to weep. He almost did, a sob of pride filling his throat so full he had to work to swallow it down.That’s it. That’s my brave boy. Good job, Cedro.
He took another breath, straightening and steeling his spine. One step down, many more to go.
The man gave one final knock on Cedro’s back and began to step away when Cedro spun and raised his hand high above his head, rage blooming in his young face as he swept his hand downward toward the guard’s artery.
One chance, you only have one chance, Cedro.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
Even with his muscles tensed, pride shimmered in Caspar’s chest as he watched the dance he’d choreographed over so many weeks. He hadn’t anticipated one of his dancers being without a hand, and yet even so, they performed beautifully. The room had stilled, the sounds of old Dedryck’s wheezes easily heard in the piqued silence.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he heard a man utter.
You certainly will be.
Grim, the man who’d once fathered a girl named Penelope and called her Poppy, burst from his cage after Cedro unlocked it and the grated door fell forward. The particulars of each game were different. The cages unique. The rooms unexpected. It had kept Caspar on his toes. Cedro stepped over the guard lying in a pool of his own blood on the floor. His aim had been pure perfection. The sharpened tin whistle lodged directly and deeply in his artery before Cedro dragged it downward, tearing it open. He’d needed to get close to use it, and he’d figured out just how. The guard had bled out in seconds.Perfect,Caspar thought.A few more steps and you’ll be free of that room.
The murmurs were rising now, the excitement and disbelief moving through the crowd of men as they watched Cedro and Grim jimmy the door that was locked from the outside. Caspar stood still, his backpressed to the wall as he watched the partners succeed in turning the lock, run from the room, and then sprint down the hallway. A guard gave chase, shooting at the men as they zigzagged, avoiding the bullets. Grim said something that sounded like “Pivot,” and they both turned together, rushing the surprised guard. They fought the gunman, Grim one handed, both emaciated, working together as though they’d trained to do so. The chatter in the room was growing louder now, men downing their drinks and reaching for more as the entertainment played out. Some drank in celebration; they’d bet well. And others scowled as they tipped back the alcohol, draining their glass in one long guzzle.
The odds had just turned heavily in the favor of those who had bet that the two contestants would escape.
Grim and Cedro had overwhelmed the guard and taken his firearm. Cedro stood over him and fired once, the second shot producing nothing. The gun had only contained five bullets. There were rules for everything. In any case, Cedro’s one shot had been enough. The guard lay dead, or dying, on the ground. Cedro threw the empty weapon, and they turned again, heading toward the exit.
Caspar could see on the screen that they’d almost reached the door. How much hope must be rising in their chests?Almost there. Almost free.
He had a moment of worry, just one, but then a few lines of static rolled across the screen before the picture blinked off and then immediately blinked back to life. Only now what was on the screen wasthem. Sounds of shock rolled through the crowd, and a man next to him suddenly cringed, bringing his hands to his throat as he began to choke.
Another man in front of Caspar did the same, and in less than ten seconds, a whole slew of men were gasping and writhing on the floor as they foamed at the mouth. He caught the eye of the server with the covered birthmark, Gervais Baudelaire, his brother for all intents and purposes, and gave him the smallest of smiles.
Caspar hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing Grim and Cedro burst through the door of the building they’d been kept in, but he took a briefmoment to picture it, inhaling a deep breath of the freedom they were experiencing right that moment.Run. Run. Take this experience, and let it make you better. Stronger. Like Evan and Noelle.
He’d sent the matching red diamonds to Baudelaire through a courier. He should be receiving them right about now. He’d know what to do with them without Caspar spelling it out—spread the wealth as he saw fit to those who had possessed enough innate decency to sacrifice themselves for a stranger. How rare the quality was that inspired such a choice. As rare as the two red diamonds that would help them live easier lives.
More men were falling now from the poison that had laced the inside of the glasses delivered a mere hour before. They gripped their throats, their faces turning a hideous shade of purple. A terrible death. One not nearly terrible enough.
But it would do.
The caged women were screaming and shaking their bars. Someone must have flipped the switch that lowered them, because they began to descend.Shit.
