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My chest hurts with the thudding of my heart. His words and face and the way he’s holding that ax don’t line up.
“Release her,” he says, straightening. The man who has my arm lets it go and I pull it back, cradling it.
“Sir,” Trae calls, making Girard turn. “You’re on.”
He smiles wide and if I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked happy. He gestures to the man at my back who hauls me to my feet.
Girard takes a deep breath in, raises the ax over his head with an immense strength considering he is one-armed, one-handed. He brings it down onto the block so hard, he lodges the blade in the wood, making me scream as I watch in horror.
He turns to me, wipes the sweat from his forehead.
“An eye for an eye. A hand for a hand. Come, Blue, I don’t want to miss a second!”
25
EZEKIEL
Ishould have had a notification by now.
Jericho is talking but I’m looking at my phone. I try Dex again, but again, the call goes right to voice mail as does Blue’s.
“Holy shit,” Jericho says, standing up from his desk, eyes glued on whatever he sees on his laptop.
“I can’t get hold of them,” I say, trying again.
“I think I may know why.”
I look to my brother. “What?”
He turns his laptop around and I see the email. Jericho is blind copied and a glance at the email app on my phone shows me I’ve received the same one.
“What the hell is it?”
“It’s a video.” He hits play and we’re redirected to YouTube. Antoine Girard appears standing on a dais wearing a long black robe.
“Hear ye, hear ye,” he says in a put-on old-world accent. “This public service announcement is brought to you by a concerned citizen,” this part he says in the quick way they read disclaimers on advertisements for medications. “Have you seen this man?” He holds up a photo of Councilor Augustus standing alongside Councilors Montrose and Hildebrand. The camera zooms in on Augustus’s face which has been circled with what looks to be a cartoon noose and modified with horns growing out of his head.
“He walks among you like a king, holding a position of tremendous power over each and every one of you. How many of you have fallen victim to his unchecked power? How many of your family members? And how many of you have tipped the scales of justice in your favor with the gold coins of Judas?”
“What the fuck? He’s fucking lost his mind,” I say.
“I bring to you a scroll of wrong doings.” He dramatically lets a scroll unfurl. It’s so long it rolls off the screen. I assume it’s a stage prop. “A list of names. Some victims, others criminals themselves. Will our great Tribunal be able to withstand such scandal?” He then switches again to that medication ad voice. “Just click the link below and if you’re enjoying this message, hit the thumbs up.” He holds his thumb up and smiles like a fucking clown.
“Christ. The man is insane.” Jericho hits pause and goes to click the attachment. “Wait. It could be a virus.”
“I don’t think so.” He opens it and we both recognize the file. It’s Councilor Augustus’s ledger. All the names right there in black and white going back three generations.
“Fuck.”
Jericho hits play again. “Fear not,” Antoine continues. “Justice shall be served. The thief has been tried and the sentence called for shall be carried out as per the dictates of our great Tribunal.”
There’s a pause here and a photo fills the screen.
Jericho peers close. “Isn’t that the block they have on display at the London Tower?”
“Could be the replica housed at the Boston compound,” I fill in, my heart pounding because I understand fully Girard’s intention. His plan all along. I care nothing for the Councilor. Hell, Girard is owed his due and I shouldn’t be surprised at his method, but the barbarian nature of it still turns my stomach.
The video cuts back to Antoine. “I urge you, citizens of our once-great Society, to bring those other criminals to justice. Avenge your loved ones as I shall avenge us all. One exception will be made to the rules of The Tribunal. Councilor Augustus’s sentence shall be carried out on a live stream. Do we not all deserve to see this criminal punished, after all? Stay tuned to witness the toppling of the usurper king.”
