The Arena Read Online Free Page B

John had been a friend of mine through the years, and I had been devastated by the fact that I couldn’t stop his death. I had been there as his house had burned to the ground around him and he fought twenty of the Council’s best to a near standstill. Sometimes I still woke up in the middle of the night, hearing his final scream of anguish. If only I had been faster, if only I had told Adam what the Council had been planning sooner, he might still be alive today. I had let the Council kill my friend to save my own skin. Why would they come to me now, requesting my involvement with John’s family again? Had they finally figured out my small betrayal? The bookcase across from my desk wavered as my vision blurred. Why can’t the dead just stay that way?
    My mind was pulled out of the memories of the past by the persistent ringing of the phone on my desk. The councilman didn’t wait for me to say anything before speaking. “Stillman, we have to figure out how to make this work for us. The Council, as you know, wants to bring the boy into the academy. I’m not sure we should let that happen. It could be too risky to let him live, let alone to put him with the man who mentored his father. I do not want to put the boy in a position where they could use him as something to rally behind.”
    It took me a few moments to pull myself together before I could even think of how to answer what he was asking. Could I betray my friend again and let them kill his only son? Did I not at least owe his memory one final kindness? Now wasn’t the time to be nostalgic, but maybe I could find a way to do the right thing and have it work in my favor. My personal feelings aside, it would probably be better for everyone if the boy just disappeared. If it had been anyone but John’s son, I wouldn’t have hesitated to make that call. Adam had already sent me a message, and more than anything, it was fear that drove me to do what was right. My morals had drifted away long ago.
    With the choice already made for me, I hoped to sway his opinion. “Councilman, I do not see that we have a choice. We have to bring the boy in, but that doesn’t mean we have to do it the way they want to. What if we could bring the boy in before they could find him? If the reports are correct, he is ignorant of our world. We could use that to our advantage.”
    There was a long pause on the line before I received an answer. “Stillman, what do you have in mind?”
    I had to think of a way to continue to work the situation in my favor, but hopefully he would think that what I had planned was in his best interest. “If we reach the boy first, maybe we can groom him to think of us as allies. If nothing else, it would put him slightly in our debt. If he feels as though he owes us his life, maybe we can use him to our advantage later on.”
    There was a heavy sigh and then silence on the other side of the line. When the councilman next spoke, he sounded resigned to give it a try. “Stillman, what is this plan of yours going to cost us, and how do we know it will work?”
    A smile crept onto my face at his words. I had him just where I wanted him. This was going to be a way to increase my own personal wealth as well as increase my standing with several influential people. I wiped the smile from my face to make sure no hint of my thoughts was betrayed in my voice. “I am going to need about two million dollars.”
    There was no sound from the other end of the line, but I knew that I had guessed at a price that was acceptable to him. Before he could think of backing out, I continued. “It’s a good investment for the chance we can manipulate the boy to our own ends. Who knows, we might even be able to get some information out of the academy, finally. Either way, he has to end up with Adam for us to get anything out of this. As far as I can tell, this is the only way we can exert some type of control into the situation.”
    The line was so quiet, I wasn’t sure if he was