Rage and Ruin | 2

4 | 4

R I L E Y

      The worst part of my day began when the phone suddenly rang in my room. On the first ring, I jumped, having been startled by the sudden sound. I got up from where I'd been feeding my lizards live crickets and went to answer it.

      "Hello? Who is this?" I wondered if it was perhaps one of my four teammates that had gone to Romania.

      "I think you already know who it is, dear Riley." I almost chucked my phone onto my bed when I recognized the voice on the other end of the line. For a moment I stood there, clutching the phone in shocked silence.

      When I didn't make any answer, he said, "I know you're there. I can hear your breathing. You have to talk eventually."

"Benny, how are you even..."

"They allowed me one phone call when I told them that it would be to you. Don't worry though, no one is listening in on our conversation. I have a job for you."

      I should have hung up the phone there and simply dealt with the consequences later.

      Instead, I sneered, "Like hell you do. You're truly insane if you think I'm doing a job for you."

       "I think you'll want to hear the terms of this agreement first, before you hang up."

      "I don't think I will."

       I was about to slam the phone down on my dresser when he said, "You lived in New Haven Orphanage your whole life, the one on 45 South Avenue in Pennsylvania, did you not?" He paused "It was the only home you knew, wasn't it?"

      My blood chilled. How did he know that?

      "I'll take your silence as an answer. You see, I know things about you. Now I need you to find out some things for me."

       "Like what?" My voice was barely there.

       "Find out as much as you can about your teammates: their fears, traumas, secrets. Even my unfortunate brother. They're all hiding things. I want to know it all."

      I shook my head as I spoke. "No. I won't do it."

      "Riley, I know the address of that orphanage you lived at. I have ways of communicating with Imperium. One word from me and my superiors will reduce your old home to rubble, along with everyone inside it. Do we understand each other?"

      My blood chilled. The words felt stale in my mouth. "Yes, we do." I couldn't risk the lives of the hundreds of children that lived within those walls.

      "Do what I asked. Be ready to tell me everything by the next time I see you. Do not tell anyone of our conversation."

      "How do you know when I'm-"

       There was a click on the other end. He'd hung up on me.

What was I going to do? Depending on the information I found out about my teammates, I could hand Benny the power to destroy us from the inside out. But if I didn't, my old orphanage and everyone in it would be destroyed. I had no love for those cold walls I'd spent the first eighteen years of my life in, but that didn't mean the people inside deserved to die.

Or, because Benny needed me for this job, I could work the information I found to my advantage. I looked off into the distance out my window, trying to decide what my next move would be. Would Benny know if I lied to him?

I decided that I would start with Kane. It was true that I already knew many things about him, but Benny had urged me to speak with his brother. Plus, his calming presence would be refreshing, especially now.