The Long Dark by Billy Farmer (best book club books for discussion .txt) 📗

what I was hoping for, but it showed he would break under the right circumstances.

“Now they’ll know...” He stopped himself, and after regaining a modicum of control, he continued with the lines we would become accustomed to from the Order. “You were supposed to have killed the phone. You brought dishonor to you, your family, the Order, and most significantly, our great leader.”

Avery uttered something under his breath, maybe a prayer, and after a couple seconds, he said, “I got it to boot. The phone’s software is based on the Linux Kernel. I can work with that in my sleep. If I can get into the phone, and assuming I can learn even cursory Korean, there should be a great deal of intel on this phone.”

“Looks like I don’t need you guys. I can find out what’s on that phone.”

Kelley began to cry. She turned to Bob and said, “I’m sorry.”

“Think of the cause, dammit,” Bob said.

“When I learned you had been captured, I knew I had to do something.” Kelley, realizing she was saying too much, broke into Korean for the rest of what she said.

“You know it doesn’t work that way. We’re both dead now.” He then said something quickly in Korean.

Kelley shook off whatever Bob had said, and then turned towards me. “If he tries to access certain things on that phone without the access code, it will self-wipe. It will not give you a warning, either.”

“Okay. Why would you--”

Tish began yelling, “William, you can’t listen to her. If she gives you a code, it won’t be what you think it’ll be. Do not listen to her.”

“Don’t do anything else to that phone. Put it down right now,” I said.

He put it down on the table as if it were a hot potato.

“Why would you tell them that?”

“She said it because she wants to live, Bob.”

“None of us will have any choice in the matter when they storm this place and kill us all. In the grand scheme of things, Kelley and I are disposable, especially so now,” Bob said, tears and blood streaming down his face.

“We’re not disposable, and your friends aren’t here yet. How about you talk, and we let you go before they get here. You let us worry about ourselves.”

“What happens when they run back to their people and tell them we’re here with this damn phone, William? They can’t live,” Titouan said.

Bob broke into a string of angry Korean aimed at Titouan.

“You and Tish are losing your shit. I need you guys to calm the fuck down.”

Sam joined in the chorus. “I swear to God, son, if you speak in ‘at shit one more time, I’m goin ta walk over ‘ere and cut yer little piener off, ya sonofabitch. William is a might bit nicer ‘an I am… too damn nice.”

Bob laughed before looking at me. “You’re losing your friends. They’ll turn on you before you get anything out of us.”

“My friends are like family. We might disagree about things, but they won’t kill me out of some honor bullshit because of it. Tell us what you know.”

“I don’t know--” Bob said.

“What can you offer us?” Kelley interrupted, choosing to take the opposite tact of Bob.

“You can’t, Kelley--”

I told Bob I’d tape his damn mouth shut if he didn’t close it.

Kelley’s eyes flitted as she looked at Bob. Her face didn’t bear any resemblance to the angry, hard, cold featured thing I’d come to know. There was a genuine if not fleeting tenderness to her facial expressions. She was torn, there was no doubt about that, but it was clear there was something in her life more important than the stupid Order, or whatever the hell it was called.

For Bob’s part, he struggled with the signals she gave him. It was clear watching him that he cared about her, even though he managed to stay much more guarded than she had. That was, until he finally found out what her weakness was.

She shook her head in the affirmative to Bob, gave Sam a quick probing glance, and began to say something to Bob in Korean. Bob’s face instantly metamorphosed into something he fought hard to stop but had no power against. Whatever it was she told him had a profound effect on him. He was suddenly just an early twenty-something male. The pretext that existed just moments ago was, at least for the time being, something that was suddenly much less important. I had them.

I focused on Kelley. She was the weak link. “Talk, Kelley.”

“Dammit, William. You can’t listen to her. She killed a baby for God’s sake. Do you really think she’s going to tell you the truth,” she said. Tish was just less than an arm’s length away from Kelley at that point. I thought she might actually attack her or worse.

“Sam,” I said. Knowing without telling him, Sam limped towards Tish.

“I think it’s time for you guys to get our things ready to leave. I’ll handle the rest of this.” I looked at Sam specifically. “I got this, man. I got it.”

He examined me for an uncomfortably long time before finally complying. As Sam guided everyone out, I was struck by something. The trust my friends had in me wasn’t boundless. By not including them in the decision-making process, I was straining the bond that held us together.

Before Sam left the room, I told him to gather up the supplies that Miley had left. I told him that only he and Titouan should have access to the weapons. He left the room without as much as a grunt. Tish, however, was letting her displeasure be known.

Tish ran back into the room. “Goddamn it, William, don’t listen to those animals. They’ll trick you, and we’ll end up dead.”

Tish and Kelley shared odd glances.

“Tish, please. I got this. You have to help the others with the supplies.”

“Get off me, Sam!” Tish yelled as she jerked away. She then stumped down the hall way. Sam shook his head and then followed.

Avery was