“Jeremy,” Beckett called out, furrowing his brow. “What are you doing here? How did they capture you?” he added, but the man remained silent. He just kept his head down and ignored him.
Beckett surveyed Jeremy’s appearance. He looked drained and exhausted. It seemed like he hadn’t had proper sleep or food, and his body was visibly shaking.
“What the hell?” Beckett’s frown deepened as he looked at Jeremy.
“Hey. Don’t take it the wrong way,” Jeru said with raised hands and a grin. “His body isn’t trembling because he’s afraid of what we did. It’s because of the sedative they injected him with. Who knew he was into drugs too? That’s the effect.”
“He’s not using drugs,” Beckett insisted. “He’s one of my most trusted scientists, and he was the one modifying and formulating the different kinds of drugs I make, but he never tasted it.”
“Hmmm. If that’s what you want to believe.” Jeru shrugged, laughing. “But here’s a piece of advice, Beck. Don’t easily trust anyone, especially those you haven’t fully known yet.”
Beckett didn’t respond. Instead, his gaze remained on Jeremy. Pity and heartache enveloped him as he stared at his friend.
Aside from Nathan, he treated Jeremy like a friend and a younger sibling. It was extremely painful for him that, out of all the people in the world, Jeremy was chosen by the founders to be the one to kill him.
“Why him?” Beckett asked, his voice low.
“It’s for you to find out,” Jeru cryptically replied, never breaking eye contact with Beckett. “I’ll leave the two of you now.”
Before Beckett could ask again, Jeru walked towards a chair a bit farther away from them. He wasn’t paying attention to them anymore, but rather to other people in the vicinity.
Like him, the men who reached the final round of initiation also wore expressions of astonishment. While it may not be evident in their facial expressions, Beckett could see it in their eyes.
“Is this how much we need to sacrifice for the freedom we want?” Beckett asked himself, clenching his fists.
Beckett returned his gaze to Jeremy, and his eyes shifted to the gun beside him. His last task is to kill Jeremy, but his heart says the opposite. He wants to set him free and escape from Agrianthropos City.
“How did they capture you?” Beckett asked as he walked closer to Jeremy. “As much as I remember, I bought a safe house and assigned my best bodyguards to take care of you since I understand how valuable you are to the organization, yet you’re suddenly here.”
“They tracked the safe house,” Jeremy weakly replied. “They also killed the three bodyguards. I don’t know their intentions and why they took me. They injected something into me, and I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was here in this place…”
Jeremy glanced around despite his trembling. His vision was becoming blurred, and it seemed like he was losing consciousness. He couldn’t let his guard down, especially not inside a strange room.
“What about you, boss? What are you doing here?” Jeremy asked with surprise. “Why did they bring us to this place?”
Beckett didn’t answer. Instead, he just kept staring at Jeremy, as if deeply contemplating something.
“Is there a problem?” Jeremy called again, but Beckett didn’t even move from where he stood. “This isn’t the time to be lost in thought, boss. Our lives are in danger. I don’t know why I’m the only one tied up here, but we need to escape…”
Jeremy paused for a moment while speaking. Again, he looked around, and there he saw some of the men standing, pointing their guns at the tied-up individuals. His heart raced as he realized the danger they were in.
“Are you one of them?” Jeremy could barely hear his voice. “Are you here to kill me too?” he added, and Beckett remained silent. “I understand now why you reacted that way when my mask was removed. Were you ordered to kill me in exchange for joining this organization?”
At first, Jeremy didn’t know where he was, but now, he was slowly piecing everything together.
“You can’t answer because I’m right?” Jeremy asked again. This time, anger was evident in his voice. “That’s why Nathan said you had something important to attend to when I asked him. This is it, huh?” He grinned.
“And why are you looking for me? I gave clear instructions for you to stay at the safe house.” Beckett’s gaze intensified as he put both hands in his pockets. “And how did you contact Nathan?”
“Through a call. Where else?” Jeremy answered without hesitation.
And that was where everything went wrong. With Jeremy’s answer, Beckett’s expression suddenly changed. The sympathy he had for Jeremy moments ago vanished, replaced by hatred.
“Nathan doesn’t have a phone to prevent rivals from tracking us, which only means one thing…” Beckett kneeled in front of Jeremy, holding the latter’s chin tightly. “You’re lying.”
Jeremy couldn’t speak. His eyes widened as he pursed his lips. The fact that he called Nathan was a lie. He went to him and asked, and when Nathan questioned why he left their hiding place, he said it was on Beckett’s orders.
“I’m not lying. I just went out for a moment to look for you-”
Jeremy was unable to finish his sentence when Beckett’s hands immediately went to his neck, choking him. “You killed the three bodyguards and escaped from the safe house. That’s why they found and brought you here.”
“That’s not true-”
Beckett tightened his grip on Jeremy’s neck, making it difficult for the young man to breathe. “Admit it. What did you do, and why did you escape from the safe house?”
“I won’t admit to anything.”
“None?” Beckett raised an eyebrow. “This place will be a torture ground, then.”
Beckett quickly released Jeremy and grabbed the gun from beside him. He pulled the trigger without hesitation, but he couldn’t bring himself to aim it at Jeremy.
‘Fuck,’ Beckett cursed in his mind, knowing that he still had trauma from his first two kills.
His hands trembled even more, and Jeremy noticed. He smirked. “A torture ground? How will you do that if you can’t bring yourself to kill a person?”
Beckett didn’t immediately react upon hearing that, but later on, he regained his composure. “It’s not something you should know. Who told you that?”
“Find out if you can,” Jeru replied coldly.
Unbeknownst to them, some of the founders-Trace, Lev, and Jeru-were listening to their conversation.
“Damn, that’s interesting,” Jeru commented with a grin, seemingly amused by the unfolding events, while Lev and Trace remained silent observers.
Only a few of the people in front of them had not yet been killed, so the founders were now watching closely.
“Five minutes,” Lev announced, glancing at his expensive wristwatch. “Stop the bullshit and kill them if you can, run if you can’t. We’re not wasting any time here.”
“Did you hear that? They said you should run… because you can’t kill me anyway,” Jeremy taunted. The look of pity was gone from his face, replaced by a smirk. “Even if I die at their hands, I’ve already obtained everything I need from you. I know all the drug formulas, and I’ve given them what they want. Your name is tarnished, and you can’t come back from this.”
Beckett’s ears seemed to ring at what he heard. He grabbed Jeremy by the neck, leveling their faces. “What do you mean? Who are you talking about?”
“Do you still remember the person who helped you form the Dweller Cartel?” Jeremy asked, struggling to breathe but maintaining a grin on his face. “That’s him. He wants to reclaim what he gave you.”
Beckett stopped in his tracks because of the sudden confession. He remembered when someone helped him establish a drug organization. He met the man in college, and he promised to help him grow his business.
But he didn’t know it was for this reason. Beckett owed a lot to those people, but now, he only felt anger.
“I orchestrated a plan to ruin your name and your organization,” Jeremy added to his admission, raising an eyebrow. “Why? Did you really think we were friends? We just used you, and now that we don’t need you anymore, you can be disposed of.”
Beckett felt a pang in his heart from what he heard, but he didn’t let himself be affected. He stepped away from Jeremy slightly and aimed the gun at his head.
“Are you going to shoot me? The question is, can you?” Jeremy grinned and looked at Beckett mischievously. “Instead of me dying, you might find yourself lying on the floor.” He chuckled.
But Jeremy was surprised when Beckett threw the gun to the floor.
“Killing you with a gun will be an easy way to let you go. Do you really think I’d let that be your fate?” Beckett approached Jeremy in fast steps. “No, because you’ll die at my own hands.”