I slammed through the door into the conference room where Matthias currently sat. Red and Kindo rushed in after me, obviously having learned about the message from Dan. “Let me see it!”

  “Try to calm yourself, Mr. Dawes. If you don’t keep control, he wins,” Matthias pointed at Jax’s face on the paused projection rising from the center of the large conference table. “Please, have a seat and let’s discuss our options.”

  “Our options? Our fucking options? I will tell you our options, Matthias,” I held up my index finger. “We have ONE option. I save my friends,” I slammed my palms on the table and looked down, taking a deep breath. “How is this even possible?”

  Matthias sat down, crossing his legs and lighting a stinger. “It seems that your friend here has a backer. A rather influential backer at that. It is no easy task to hack the council network, after all. I have some feelers out now and should know more within a few hours,” Matthias flicked the ashes of his stinger into an ornate ashtray on the table. “I fear that there will be no easy way to save your friends if somebody with that amount of influence is backing him.”

  I slumped into a chair and sighed, rubbing my face. “Are you saying you want out?”

  “No, Mr Dawes. I am not saying that at all. What I am saying is that we need to proceed with caution. No more rash actions and revenge. This will need to be dealt with in a professional manner if we are to be successful.”

  “What do you mean, professional?” I asked.

  “You will need to listen to the orders that Kindo gives and act only in ways that progress the mission. There can be no more sloppy revenge killings. We must take this in steps and ensure we have all the information we can gather beforehand.”

  “I understand. I can do that.” I leaned forward on my elbows. “What do we do now?”

  “First, I am afraid you will need to watch the message. I need your word that you will restrain yourself first.” Matthias looked at me concernedly.

  “I will.”

  Matthias restarted the projection. Jax walked into frame holding a large boomstick. “Is this thing on?” He asked, looking off camera. “Good, good. So, what a surprise, right? I mean, to be honest, I’m surprised I was the first to betray you, Andrew. The truth is, you don’t deserve the power you got. Shit, you for sure don’t deserve the ship and crew,” Jax started walking, dragging the tip of the boomstick on the ground. “Stay with me, he’s gonna want to see this.” He walked toward two figures that were bent forward and on their knees, bound and gagged. “Now, Andrew, I know what you’re thinking. ‘How could Jax betray me? How could he betray his brother?’ Well, I got news for you asshole. I have done a lot worse in my day. I spent too much time deployed overseas to come back with clean hands. So, when the facilitator started talking with me, it didn’t take long for him to convince me to help take you out.” Matty bent down and lifted one of the figures to its knees. He pulled off the white hood covering the person’s face to reveal his brother Matty. “Say hi, Matty!” Jax pulled the camera in to get a close-up of his brother’s face. “Now Matty here, he never would’ve let me do it so I had to keep it to myself. He will thank me in the end, though. Ain’t that right, brother!” Matty thrashed and tried to speak through his gag, to no avail.

  I looked down to see my arms pulsing as my heart rate increased.

  “Stay calm, Mr. Dawes,” Matthias said.

  “Now! Guest number two!” Jax reached down to lift the second figure, taking off their hood to reveal Loren. “Poor…little…Lo,” Jax grabbed her by the chin, squeezing tightly. “I never cared much for Loren, to be honest. Especially after she started falling for that damn droid. I say that just to let you know that I really don’t have any issue ending her. Shit, aside from my brother and Claire I really don’t give two shits about any of the rest of you.”

  Loren swung her head forward, headbutting Jax, causing him to drop his boomstick and creating a small gash above his left eye.

  “Ooooh shit! Still a fiery one! Must be the red hair! Haaa,” Jax laughed before shooting forward with a right hook, catching Loren square in the temple. He threw his hands up in the air like a boxer who had just knocked out an opponent. “That’s a knockout, baby! Whoo!”

  Matty yelled and thrashed against his restraints again, trying to get to Jax.

  “Calm down, big bro, she will be fine, she is initiated after all. Gonna have a hell of a headache, though. Jeez, can’t a guy have a little fun?” Jax turned back to face the camera. “So, here is the deal, Andrew. You for them. It’s pretty simple, really. I will even make it interesting, I’ll give you a fighting chance. You beat me in a fight, man to man, and you get everyone back. I can’t vouch for your safety after that, though. The Council really hates you, and I doubt they’ll let you leave without a fight. Hey, you will have a chance, though, right? But if you lose…well, you die, and your friends die. Well, everyone but Matty here,” Jax picked up his boomstick and started walking again. “Just in case you think I’m bluffing, I have another surprise for you. Jax walked into another room where a figure was being suspended in the air, hands and feet in some sort of full restraint, causing them to be suspended in a sort of X pattern. “I just so happen to have your spicy little A.I. here with me, say hi to Tiff!”

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  “Tiff!” I shouted, standing up from my chair. My arms were now pulsing with an audible hum.

  “Calm yerself now, boy,” Kindo put his arms on my shoulders from behind. “Can’t help her until we know how to help her. Ya getin that?”

  “Damn, man. I honestly don’t know how you didn’t make a move on this,” Matty said, running the boomstick up Tiff’s leg to her inner thigh. “You think she made herself look like this just to get you to do stupid shit? Or is this really how she looks? Either way, I might just have to see if I can find out just how detailed this body of hers is,” Jax chuckled as he continued to raise the boomstick higher on Tiff’s body. “That will be after our fight though, gonna need to relax, right?” Jax stopped the boomstick on Tiff’s midsection. She looked straight ahead without emotion as a single tear slid down her cheek. “Oh, look at that. She is scared. Makes sense, I have had a few goes at her with this thing. Just trying to soften her up a bit, ya know? Gotta make sure she doesn’t have any info about you that we weren’t aware of,” Jax activated the boomstick, sending electricity into Tiff’s body. Her entire body tensed aggressively, pulling against her restraints.

  After a few seconds, Jax deactivated the boomstick. Tiff groaned, and her head slumped forward. I felt sick watching this. I didn’t think this could happen, especially not from one of my crew.

  “Damn…I bet it sucks watching this,” Jax chuckled. “Oh, in case you were wondering, we have Elvis, too. That asshole is strong, I’ll give him that. We are gonna have some fun with him before you get your shot, so I can’t hurt him…well, I can’t hurt him too bad,” Jax walked back toward the camera until only his face was showing. He smiled maniacally. “You had your chance to prove yourself, Andrew. Shit, truth be told you know deep down that you aren’t the man you’ve been pretending to be. You’re no fighter, no soldier, and for damn sure, no fucking captain. So I’m gonna do you a favor and end the charade for you. Last thing I have for you, buddy. Just in case you think you can take me, let me set you straight. All my cards on the table here. The facilitator has hooked me up with some sweet upgrades. I don’t wanna spoil it though. You can see them for yourself in two days. Two days in the Council arena, Andrew. That is when and where you die. Don’t disappoint me.”

  The projection shut off. I slumped down into my chair, looking at my arms as the pulsing subsided. “Whatever you need from me. Whatever you need me to do, you’ve got it.”

  “Same goes for me,” Red said, stepping up beside me. “We can’t let them hurt our friends.”

  “I think we need to understand something here,” Matthias said, standing up and straightening his jacket. “Your friends have been and will continue to be hurt. Our goal is to save their lives. I do not say that to be insensitive, mind you. I know it was hard to watch that, Mr. Dawes. I can understand the amount of overwhelming anger and frustration you must feel, and I swear that you will have my squad’s full support to finish what we started. I would venture to guess that whoever is backing your colleague has also managed to quell the will of the Council. There are a few things working in our favor here, though. Firstly, you have my backing and therefore the manpower and firepower that comes along with it. Secondly, I believe they still underestimate what you are capable of. We must be smart about this, though.

  “I am open to suggestions, here. I don’t see how I avoid this fight, though.” I said frustratedly.

  “True, true. The fight must happen. I am concerned that you are not a full power, but I am afraid it is a chance you will have to take. That is the part of the plan that will be easy, though. The hard part will be freeing your friends.

  “If I beat him, they go free. You heard him.” I said.

  “Mr. Dawes. Are you really that gullible? Your friends will not be going free, I’m afraid. No, it is more likely that they are keeping them alive only to bait you. Whether you win or lose, I am sure they will die.”

  “How can you be sure of that?” I asked. “They have no reason to harm them.”

  “Aside from the fact that they are the crew of the most wanted man in the galaxy and had a direct hand in the deaths of several Council members?” Matthias said.

  “Yeah, but this isn’t the Council we’re dealing with here. We don’t know who the backer is. So I ask again, how can you be sure?”

  Matthias walked toward the door and stopped beside me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Because it is what I would do, Mr. Dawes.”

  I sighed. I knew he was right. We had to have a plan to save the crew, regardless of what happened to me. I couldn’t see it, I didn’t know how we would be able to get them all to safety while I was tied up trying to survive a fight against Jax. “Okay, so let’s make a plan. Whatever we need to do, I’m in.”

  “I am going to need to find a way to bolster our ranks, Mr. Dawes. Until then, I need you to stand down and get your head right. Do some training with Kindo, sharpen your skills, and prepare for your fight. Let me handle the rest.”

  Craaack, craackle…An… Andy…can you…me

  I pulled at my ear as the communicator in my ear canal blazed to life. “What? Who is this? C.J. is that you?!”

  “Andy, can you hear me?” C.J. said excitedly through the comms.

  “C.J., buddy! What are you doing here? How did you get here?”

  “Natasha got us here. Sorry, we took so long. What is going on down there? Why are you on Boutelerien? Bro, what the hell have you gotten into this time?”

  “It’s a long story,” I said as Red motioned to know what was going on. “Did you say us? Who is with you? I thought everyone was here.”

  “Oh, yeah! I have your brother, Michael, with me. It’s him and one of his…friends.” C.J. said awkwardly.

  “One of his friends? Who is it? Do I know him?” I asked.

  “Not exactly, you knew his brother, though.”