Free The Last Revenant (Book 1): The Crash by J.S. Carter

murdered them.”
    “Who, Jessica?” He waved his hands as if to find the answer about to fall into his lap at the blink of an eye. “Who did he kill?”
    I ground my teeth against his condescending belittlement. Everyone left alive knew what had happened. They knew how the target had shifted, how the hate had spread. He only wanted to hear me say it, just like the rest of them had. I forced the words out as Ryan continued to stare, his attention only fueling my ire. “You don't even care, do you?”
    He stood up and walked to the front of his desk, leaning against the top while crossing his arms. “Why should I?”
    You know why...
    He wouldn't let up, a thought that was driving me insane until I realized that we were also alone. I imagined how close I'd be able to get to strangling him to death, but quickly remembered that he was still in charge as long as he had a gun strapped to his hip.
    “You don't care...” I could feel my muscles give way as realization finally washed over them. He really didn't. He really didn't care about anyone except for himself.
    He watched me eagerly and the small hint of a smile curled past his lips. He was much more dangerous than I knew. “You've made some new friends here pretty quick. It makes me wonder what a Sed would do if one were standing right in front of me.”
    Sed.
    There was that word again. I squeezed the knot past my throat as Ryan reached back to pull something out from a drawer within his desk. “The problem is that they're good at hiding—every single one of 'em—right in plain sight.” He brought his hand forward, but kept whatever he had taken out covered and made me wait a tense moment. The next part didn't make me feel any better whatsoever. “Come here.”
    I did as he ordered and forced my legs to get me to stop just in front of him.
    “The man who died last night... He said he knew you.”
    Impossible. I watched Ryan carefully. Was he trying to trick me? I racked my brain for an answer before deciding that there would be no harm in risking it. “You're lying.”
    He gave me a short smile. “Then why did he give me this?” He lifted his hand and let go of a small silver heart-shaped pendant that hung from a chain around his fingers. He kept his full attention on me the entire time, trying to gauge my reaction, almost as if he were about to teach me a lesson.
    I wasn't sure what he had expected me to say. “It's not mine.”
    “So then you won't mind holding it?”
    Should I?
    I watched the small trinket rotate in front of my face and I held out my hand, palm facing up. I stretched my arm out and watched the delicate heart dangle just above the center of my glove, my eyes only turning to him when he spoke.
    “You're sure that there's nothing you'd like to tell me?” He grinned anxiously and I tried not to look into it.
    Even if there was, what would it matter now?
    I brought my focus back to the floating piece of silver just as Ryan let go. It fell into my hand and the chain attached to it coiled around like a snake in an instant.
    Nothing.
    I looked back up at Ryan. “Thank you?”
    He furrowed his brow and immediately fought against a new onslaught of words but held them back, his confusion ultimately melting away to anger and annoyance. “We're done here.”
    “You sure?”
    He walked back behind his desk and glared up at me. “Don't you have shit to clean?”
    I balled a fist around my new piece of jewelry and watched him flip through a stack of papers, confused, but it wasn’t enough to keep me there. Even a turd was better company than him. I left as soon as I got the chance.
    Jeremy and the others were already gone by the time I got outside. I found myself walking through the morning sun without any idea where I was going. I was surrounded by a fence and people that I didn’t know, completely by myself and without any idea of what to do. I couldn’t help but think that dying in the middle of nowhere would have been exactly the same.
    I