Page 112 of Tempting God

“Your wife.” He smiles, as if he didn’t just seal his fate. “As I told her, it was an unfortunate but necessary sacrifice. I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay in the presidential race with her gone.”

An icy calmness settles over me. I’ve worked hard my entire life to maintain the image the Brotherhood has created for me. Most people don’t even realize that I worked side by side with Alessandro and Brooks in the beginning, taking care of the Brotherhood’s problems. When the Brotherhood decided I was to become President of the United States, that also meant my hands had to be clean. So the killings stopped. Tonight, that changes. And it might be my most favorite killing ever.

“What happens now?”

“We wait for Charles to get here. Once he sees what I’m willing to do for the Defiant God Brotherhood, then I’m sure we can come to an arrangement where they let me become a member and we can forget this business of having me killed.”

“Done a lot of research on the Brotherhood, then?”

He nods. “As much as one can do on the internet.”

Which isn’t much. While there are those who know about us, we weave the narrative that can be found online. I mean, we have to give the conspiracy theorists something to grasp onto. So any information that Ryans thinks he knows is wrong. I almost feel bad for the man. Almost.

A soft tap on the wall behind me gets my attention.

“So he gets here, and you plead your case. What then?”

“What do you mean, what then? I kill you, obviously.”

“And then?”

“I become President.”

“What happens to my wife?”

“She knows too much. I’m sure Charles will agree that she and your unborn child will have to go.”

“What of Henderson and his wife? They, too, know too much.”

“A fair point. I guess I’ll have them removed, too.”

“Anyone else?”

Ryans shakes his head. “Not that I can think of.”

I stand and Ryans takes a step back.

“What are you doing? I didn’t say you could move!”

“This really is unfortunate. But thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being my last kill.”

The lights in the house go out and the panel in the wall behind me opens. I hold out my hand and a pair of night vision goggles are slapped onto my palm. Spinning to the left, I put on the goggles as a shot rings through the air. With the goggles on, I can see Walt is the one who fired his weapon. There are three others here. Brooks. Charles. And Jones?

Brooks gives me the signal and I nod.

Slowly, we approach Ryans on opposite sides. We’re stealthy as we move, so he doesn’t know we’re on him until it’s too late. Brooks strikes first, knocking the gun out of his hands. Ryans cries out as I kick him right in the dick.

“That’s for hurting my wife,” I say as he falls.

Brooks kicks him in the same spot. “That’s for scaring mine!”

Reaching down, we lift Ryans under his arms and drag him down winding hallways. Even if the lights were on, he’d have no idea where we were going. A design choice that Greer’s grandfather made years ago. Ryans fights as we drag him down a staircase, going to the underbelly of the mansion.

In the torture room, we chain him up by his arms and legs, so he’s in an X position and cannot move. Brooks kicks him one last time between his legs before the lights come on.

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