Expiration Date (Books 1 and 2)

57 Can I Really Leave?

to have you."

Alix places his hand on his sister's shoulder. "You'll always be welcome in France."

A few minutes after they've left my room, I receive a call from Seong-ho. "They've contacted us."

*****

I meet the Order and Brydan in Gwen's office. Seong-ho isn't present.

Gwen had this space before she took Erik's place and so everything is arranged to her taste. The chair she sits in behind her marble-topped desk is white and throughout the room are silver accents, a favorite color of the Society. Gwen massages the sides of her head. "They sent it by email."

Eli snorts. "Intimidating."

Gwen raises her eyes that are the same color as her twin's and Jonas's. Her stare is pure ice. "In exchange for Bently's mother, they want us to make Marks optional and want the three rebels we have prisoner."

Percy crosses his arms, leaning against the wall beside a painting of splotches of gray and purple. "All for one person?"

"That person is an Amoris, and they know that. That's the issue."

"But they have two other Amoris," August says. "Unless it's all three of them, meeting their demand is pointless. They can still expose the Amoris."

Gwen closes her eyes, her forehead scrunching as she leans her elbows on her desk and rests her weight on them. "I have a team trying to determine where the email was sent from, but I can't imagine they'd send it from one of their own computers." She opens her eyes to look at her brother. "Have the identities of the prisoners been determined?"

Arms crossed, Colton nods. "Facial recognition ID'd them days ago, but their addresses are all in different cities."

Gwen's lips scrunch up to the side. "Are you able to see the location of where their faces most show up in photos?"

Sebastian leans against the wall beside Percy. "It takes time. We've had people working on it since before Jonas was even taken, but there's a lot of machine error."

Percy presses his lips into a thin line.

Gwen's eyes narrow. "What?"

"We still wouldn't know where in the city their base is."

"It'd be faster to torture them," Colton says.

Dropping my chin, I sigh. "I'm not sure it would. I was trained to withstand torture, and I'm sure these rebels were trained similarly. By the time you get something out of them . . ." Jonas could be dead. "Well, we might have already been able to get a lead on the base's location. They like to make their bases as almost undetectable as possible. And most that I've heard of are underground." Like my uncle's bunker of weapons in Nevada.

Colton scowls. "So, it's underground and undetectable. I'm failing to see why torture would be slower."

"They have to put entrances somewhere. Once you know the city, look at security cameras. See where people are going into a building and not coming out. It will take time, but you're the Society. You have a lot of eyes at your disposal."

Gwen wets her lips, glancing at her computer screen. "Shouldn't you be getting ready to leave?"

"I'm not going. Not yet."

The room falls silent, my words hanging there between all of us.

Do they think I'm foolish? Lovesick? Pathetic?

Enzo, the Douze, looks at Gwen and breaks the silence, "Did they give a time when you have to respond by?"

"Three days for us to make the announcement or they broadcast they've captured Jonas and reveal his Expiration Date and the existence of the Amoris."

"And what about the Rosens?" Eli asks.

"I'm questioning them in an hour." August rubs his jaw. "I don't think I'll get anything."

Gwen rubs her thumb against the side of her computer screen. "Let's see if they can determine what city, and, Colton, you should continue questioning the rebels, but I'd say hold off on the torture for just today. They won't break easily, but if we can at least get the name of the city, then you can target your questions and your . . . technique."

Colton's jaw clenches. "Does everyone else think I should wait? Isn't time of the essence?"

"We could take a vote," she offers, and they agree to that suggestion. As they see this as an Order matter, Brydan and I are not allowed a vote, but in the end, the majority of the Order sides with Gwen.