If I weren't so damn angry I'd be embarrassed.
Gareth Ellis was a handsome man-but how could he be anything else with Rogan as his brother? They looked very similar. I couldn't tell which of them was older. There must have been only a year or two between their ages. Gareth's hair was a shade lighter, a lot shorter, and he was clean shaven. If Rogan was currently sporting the convict-chic look, his brother was all about business. Very crisp. Very professional. Very suave and perfect.
His eyes were also the same color as Rogan's-a jarring ocean blue-green.
Yeah, there was no doubt that they were truly brothers.
"Kira," he said. "Come sit with me."
"I'll stand, thanks."
"I wasn't asking you; I was telling you." His expression hardened for an instant, but then a small smile appeared on his lips. "If you please."
Okay, so this wasn't going to be fun.
Without taking my eyes off him I slowly approached the table and slid into the seat across from him. He studied me as if I were a project in a science lab, his gaze resting on everything from my hair to my cheeks to my nose, lips, neck, and the rest of me visible above the white tabletop.
"Do you like your new outfit?" he asked.
"No."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I think you wear it well."
I just glared at him.
"You're our first female competitor," he said after a moment.
"I know."
"How are you enjoying the game so far?"
"Enjoying the game?" I repeated. "Enjoying it? You must be fucking crazy if you think I'm enjoying your sick little game."
He cocked his head to the side. "You were enjoying it half an hour ago. Quite vocally, in fact."
I clenched my fists at my sides. "Go to hell."
He smiled thinly. "A girl with a bit of spirit. It's refreshing, actually. Most of the women I meet nowadays are so wrapped up with the desire to go to Offworld that they'll say anything if they think it could help them achieve that goal."
"I guess I'm not most women."
He didn't reply, but continued to study me in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable.
"So what now?" I asked. "Are you going to stare at me all day?"
"Just trying to see what my brother sees in you, while he was at one time a ladies' man, he never settled for only one. In fact, he preferred dozens. He used women for their bodies and they used him for his money. It made things very simple."
I just looked at him.
"Have you fallen in love with Rogan?" he asked. "Or was it just sex?"
"I don't know the whole story about what you did to screw Rogan over, but what I have heard doesn't make me want to have a long, detailed discussion with you about my love life. So, sorry."
He raised an eyebrow. "I know that he told you what happened."
"Are you going to try to deny it?"
He shook his head. "No. Rogan got in the way of The Countdown becoming everything it could be. I had to stop him from ruining my plans. It's that simple."
Simple. Sure. This guy was obviously off his rocker.
"Are we done here?" I asked blandly.
"No, we're not." He stood and came around to lean against my side of the table. "I don't believe in psychic phenomena, Kira. I believe in science."
"I don't really give a shit what you believe."
He hit me hard across my left cheek. I hadn't even seen it coming. I pressed my hand against my face and looked up at him, the shock quickly changing to anger.
"I believe that you are a liar and a thief, Kira. Four weeks ago you picked my pocket on the street. You took my wallet, removed the money from it, and threw the rest away. I followed you and saw the squalor that you lived in. But I liked the way you moved, the sheer desperation in your actions. I knew you had what it would take to be on The Countdown. And then I asked my employees to research you. We got a sample of your DNA, and I know more about you than you probably know about yourself. I analyze, Kira. I analyze and I study and I learn. And I use all of that to help The Countdown grow stronger and stronger and better, and better until one day it will spread itself across all of this city, this world, and Offworld itself." He leaned forward and banged his fist against the table. "Are you listening to me?"
I blinked heavily. "Sorry, I think I just fell asleep a little bit, that story was so damn long. Were you saying something about your wallet?"
His mouth twitched, and it reminded me disconcertingly of Rogan when he smiled. Only with Gareth it wasn't pleasant, and there was something much darker behind it.
"You truly believe you are a psi? If you had any significant abilities at all you would be in a study program Offworld. Scientists would be prodding you daily, trying to figure out what makes you tick."
"Oh, well." I tried to sound as bored as I could when my heart was beating so fast I was afraid he'd be able to hear it. He didn't believe that I had my flex. I was surprised Jonathan hadn't confirmed that to him yet.
"So all you have is your ability to compete on The Countdown. You should be thanking me."
I blinked. "Thanking you? You're kidding, right?"
"You dream of going Offworld. With your means and background, winning The Countdown is the only way you'll ever achieve that goal, and my brother's only chance to stay out of prison."
I gripped the side of the table so hard my fingers felt numb. "Why did you frame Rogan for something he didn't even do? Something so horrible. There had to be another way, you heartless bastard."
"We're not talking about Rogan, are we? We're talking about you."
I bit my lip. "Whatever."
"But now that you brought him up, I have a little proposition for you. Something that, now that the two of you are lovers, will make for an interesting side challenge."
I glared up at him.
He drew closer to me and I could smell his expensive aftershave. "There is very little chance of your surviving to the end of The Countdown. In four years we have had nearly eighty pairs compete. Only one of those pairs finished to the very end to receive their ultimate reward. You will die, Kira. And I promise you it won't be pleasant."
"Fuck you."
He grinned and leaned back against the table. 'The subscribers seem to like you a great deal. It may have something to do with that little attitude of yours, maybe that little body that has been bared and exposed now for all to see and enjoy." His gaze slid down my new low-cut black top. "Maybe it's the growing relationship between you and Rogan, I don't know for certain. But they like you. They want you to win."
'Then I'll win."
He shook his head. "No, you won't. You will die. In Level Five or Level Six. It won't matter. The odds are against you." He paused. "But I'm going to give you another option."
He waited until I made eye contact with him again. "Oh, yeah, and what's that?"
He licked his lips and moved closer still until I could feel and smell his breath against my face past the musky scent of his aftershave. "You will kill Rogan on camera. He's strong so he might get the upper hand unless you're sneaky. But I know you can be sneaky when you have to be. The subscribers don't like him. They believe, along with the crimes he was in prison for, that he also murdered your family, and they want you to seek revenge for this."
I frowned hard and shook my head. "But Rogan and I talked. He's innocent of all of those crimes. If the subscribers were watching they would have heard that."