Page 110 of The Circle

“Zander went through a door down there. He says he thinks that’s where Andra and Theo were before,” I say, nodding toward Liam.

“Let’s fuckin’ go,” she says, marching toward where I’ve indicated.

I look at Alec, realizing that the pain from where the orbit of my eye was clipped by a fucking bullet is really starting to ramp up. The chaos and adrenaline sort of kept it out of my awareness for a minute, but now the blood pounding throughout my body seems to all be funneling directly to the socket I’m trying to keep closed out of instinct. It really, really, really fucking hurts, is what I’m saying.

Alec nods at me and we start to follow after Christine. Liam is still sitting on the ground, moaning. Again, I got shot in the fucking eye and he only got clipped in the shoulder, so I really don’t have a ton of sympathy for the bullet he took, but on a larger, more global level, I do have some kind of sympathy for him. I realize Alec does as well, because upon hearing him moan, Alec kneels down to face him, causing Liam to jerk. “Ay! Listen to me, man!” Liam is shivering, terrified. For probably a few reasons. “Where’s home?”

“Sir?”

“Don’t fokken ‘sir’ me, man. Where do you come from? What town?”

“Durban?” He says it like he’s not sure he remembers anymore.

“Go back there.”

“Sir?”

“Fokken—GO. BACK. THERE. Get away from all this kak. Go back there, like a good laaitie, and figure out something else to do with your life. You hear me? Do it. Or I will find out, find you, and I won’t let you go so unscathed a third time. You hear me, man? Fokken go. Home.”

Liam nods, stunned and bewildered. Alec nods back, stands, and he and I start to catch up to Christine, who is steps from the door Zander went through. We bolt after her and as we race down the hall I feel compelled to make an observation: “And you thought you couldn’t be a good father.”

“Fokken shut up, man,” Alec says as we arrive in front of the door, next to Christine.

Alec takes up one side of her. I take up the other. Alec, Christine, and Danny. Facing the unknown. Yet again.

I check my clip. Christine checks hers. Alec his. Nobody says anything. No one looks at the others. We just face the closed door, take a breath…

And Christine kicks the fucker in.