Grendel Unit 3: Fight the Power Read Online Free Page A

his foot at the side of the wall closest to Cojo so hard it rattled the cell door and the floor below, sending a loud echo of quaking steel rattling down the corridor. "I said go away!"
    "I know where Yultorot is headed. I just debriefed a guy connected to the group selling explosive to the Sapienists, and −"
    Monster snarled and shot to his feet so quickly that Vic instinctively backed up. The Mantipor lowered his shaggy face to Vic's, his fangs gnashing together in a series of angry growls, saying, "We are not part of Unification anymore! Do you understand? We are nothing now. You led us into ruin. Stop deluding yourself that any of this nonsense you're doing matters!"
    "Listen to me, Monster," Vic said, "This is all just a setback. All right, granted, it looks bad, but if we just stick together and hold our ground, I can figure out a way to get all this information to the right person. They can use it to get Yultorot. We're close on this!" He looked over his shoulder at the long corridor of cells, seeing the distant figures of prisoners that were simply waiting to be asked the right questions, in the right way. "You know, I'm starting to wonder if coming here wasn't something we should have done years ago. It's like a feeding frenzy of high-value targets for our taking."
    Monster shook his head sadly and said, "You are either an idiot, or you've gone insane. Perhaps both. Either way, leave me out of it."
    "L ook, would you stop sulking, already. Enough. What we need to do right now is talk this through. We plan it out, acquire what we need, and execute, same as any other operation."
    "There is no operation, you fool!" Monster shouted, loud enough to make the hair on Vic's arms stand up. The Mantipor sulked back to his corner and slid down the wall into a great heap. "I don't work for you anymore. Go interrogate as many of your fellow inmates as you want, or at least, as many as you can until they string you up to the ceiling and skin you alive. All I want to do is sit here and wait for death."
    "What the hell happened to you?" Vic said.
    "What happened to me?" Monster said, his eyes opening wide. "I lost my wives. I lost my children. I lost my job. I lost my freedom. I lost everything I had, and it's all because of one person. And now, because the gods are nothing but diseased lunatics, I get to spend the rest of my days trapped in a prison with that same person, and he is deluded enough to think I give a damn what he wants."
    Vic took a deep breath, searching for the right words. He needed something inspirational. It had always been so easy before, back when he'd spoken with the authority of rank and had the security of his team around him. When he'd been aboard the Samsara, leading his men, watching them hang on his every word for direction, he'd been firmly in command. Now, what right did he have to try and order anyone to do anything? He was disgraced in the eyes of all of Unification. Monster was probably not alone in his desire to see Vic go back to his own cell and wait patiently for it all to end. What if that bastard guard really had been telling the truth? What if Frank really said he should just kill himself?
    Vic looked at the Mantipor and said, "I'm sorry about your family. I never meant for any of this to happen."
    Monster laughed bitterly, "Do you want to know the most sickening part? I don't think you mind any of this. You have no woman or children. You have no tribe!"
    Vic said nothing.
    "You do not even have a life outside of your service to Unification, and you weren't even good at that."
    "Hey!" Vic said. "Now you're going too far. Grendel was the best in the galaxy when I had it. Nobody could touch us."
    " Yes, yes, it's true," Monster sneered, "You were a great operative. An inspired warrior, and under you we accomplished things no one else cold. But that was not your only job, Cojo. You were supposed to be a member of the organization. To keep us safe from our enemies both below, and above! Yet look