Deadlock Read Free Page B

engage him in conversation. At first she had maintained a defiant silence, but Nero had not been discouraged. Over the past few years, he had trained many children who had been subjected to the worst kinds of brutality and he knew that there was still time to save the girl. At first, he had talked to her about her life before the Furans, growing up on the streets of Moscow and then slowly he coaxed from her details of the torments that she had suffered at the Glasshouse. Slowly he had begun to catch glimpses of the fiercely independent and resourceful young woman that the Furans had tried so hard to suppress. They thought they had broken her, but in truth she had just hidden that part of herself away, deep inside, somewhere they could not reach it.
    ‘She’ll be a huge asset if we can trust her,’ Francisco said, watching as another of his men went flying.
    ‘Agreed,’ Nero replied, ‘so perhaps it is time we found out if we can.’ He turned and walked to the stairs at the end of the balcony. He made his way down on to the training floor and the guards around the edge of the room visibly tensed.
    ‘Gentlemen, you are dismissed,’ Nero said as he approached the panting men surrounding Raven. There was no disguising the looks of relief on some of their faces as they walked or limped away.
    ‘You did well,’ Nero said as he approached Raven. ‘How are you feeling?’
    ‘Out of practice,’ Raven replied. ‘Your men are weak.’
    ‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Nero replied. ‘It’s just that you are unusually strong. Thank you for honouring my request and not seriously injuring any of them.’
    ‘The dozen guns pointing at me made it difficult to disagree,’ Raven replied.
    ‘Indeed,’ Nero said, glancing at the men around the perimeter of the room. ‘Perhaps we should remove them from the equation.’ He turned to Francisco who was still watching from the balcony above. ‘You and your men may leave, Colonel.’
    ‘Are you sure, sir?’ Francisco replied with a frown.
    ‘I’m quite certain, thank you, Colonel,’ Nero replied.
    ‘Understood,’ Francisco replied, still frowning. ‘Clear the room.’
    Raven and Nero watched in silence as the guards filed out, leaving them alone in the large hall.
    ‘You’re a fool,’ Raven said. ‘I don’t need a weapon, you know. I could kill you where you stand with my bare hands.’
    ‘I’m sure you could,’ Nero replied, looking her in the eye. ‘The question is why don’t you?’
    Raven stared back at him for several seconds, as if weighing her options. Nero knew that if he had miscalculated he would almost certainly have made a fatal mistake. He was a capable fighter, but he knew he was no match for the young girl standing in front of him.
    ‘The truth is I don’t know,’ Raven replied. ‘Just a couple of months ago I would have terminated you in an instant, no matter the consequences. And yet, today . . . for reasons I don’t quite understand, I do not want to.’
    ‘And why do you think that is?’ Nero asked.
    ‘Perhaps it is because I do not yet understand you, Nero. I tried to kill you and yet you have shown me nothing but charity. It goes against everything I have been taught.’
    ‘From what you have told me in the past few weeks, you have been taught that choice is an illusion. Correct?’
    ‘Yes,’ Raven replied with a nod. ‘Madame Furan believes that we are all just slaves to one degree or another. I could carry out someone else’s orders, but then I would merely be swapping one master for another. We all must serve and denying that is pointless.’
    ‘People who seek to control others have been repeating that mantra for centuries,’ Nero said with a frown. ‘It is no more true today than it was then.’
    ‘You serve within your organisation,’ Raven replied, studying him carefully. ‘You have your masters. How is that any different?’
    ‘The difference is that I serve G.L.O.V.E. by choice,’ Nero replied. ‘The