The Last Night of Alton Webber by Robin Parrish

Author:Robin Parrish
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Christian / Short Stories
ISBN: 9781414374932
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
Published: 2012-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

11

Now

Brandt had the feeling of staring into an abyss, and despite himself, it was he who flinched first. He blinked and saw a pair of sevens in his mind’s eye, floating where Thomas’s eyes had been. When he opened them again, Thomas was still staring into his soul. Brandt flinched again, pulling back fast, and he quickly covered for his sudden movement by picking up his speech where he had left off.

“Come on now. Nothing to say, Mr. Constant? Don’t take the way you’ve been treated so personally. You’re hardly the first person we’ve taken advantage of. For most of our lives, the Seven have been using others to get ahead, and we’ve gotten very, very good at it. We’ve made it our business to play the system while controlling the game, and we’ve done it again and again and again. The world sees us carrying on our normal lives—we count among us a banker, a doctor, a corporate CEO, a politician, and a career military leader. But behind closed doors, we are the Seven.

“Like yourself, we are something of a legend, spoken of only in hushed conversations. Some wonder if we secretly rule the world. In truth, we don’t rule it. We own it. And we are always hungry for more. We’ll find your weakness, Mr. Constant. It’s what we do. And we’re prepared to invest in this for as long as it takes.”

The rain came down outside as though it were trying to sink the island. Brandt couldn’t recall ever witnessing such a fierce storm. If Alton held the most power of the seven of them, then the world really was ushering its owner out of this life with a bang.

Thomas’s eyes swiveled to examine each man in turn once more. He lingered on them one by one for an uncomfortably long time and said their names as he found each one. Brandt’s skin tingled at the casual familiarity with which he uttered each man’s first name. “Ian. Dewey. Herman. Lane. Virgil. Merle. Alton. Gentlemen, I can’t deny that this has been a fascinating diversion. But I must be getting back to my experiment now.”

“Oh?” Brandt blinked, but his mouth curved into a smirk as he glanced at his companions, then back at Thomas. “The metal braces holding you to that chair are more than two inches thick. They’ll fry you where you sit if you so much as twitch. And even if you could get out, this building is in total lockdown. Houdini couldn’t get out of here. Maybe you’ve never been in a situation like this before, so you don’t understand what it means. Let me make it plain for you. We have the advantage here, sir. You are completely and without question at our mercy.”

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