Pawn (The Pawn Duet #2) - T.M. Frazier Page 0,62
and Darius releases Pike’s hair. His chin falls to his chest just as my heart falls into my stomach. “He’s a gift. From Mickey and myself. For you. To thank you for all you’ve done for us. Almost spoiled it there for a minute with your bullshit, but we’re willing to overlook that. Even the best leaders among us have their flaws.”
Darius smiles, but I can see him grinding his teeth while he glares at his son for speaking to him in such a way in front of his people.
This wasn’t part of the plan. What are you up to, Percy?
Darius’s eyes light up, and I’m not sure if it’s for show or because he’s genuinely thrilled with our ‘gift.’ “Well done, son,” he says, without offering me any sort of apology. Then again, he could be facing an arsenal of weapons pointed at his bald head, and he still couldn’t muster an apology. Like my father, he’s a narcissist. It’s not his fault. It’s the fault of others or circumstance that made him do or say the things he does and says.
It’s bullshit is what it is.
“There’s more,” I offer, deciding to move forward with my part of the plan. What more do I have to lose? Besides, it’s not like I’m going to get another opportunity. “Have a seat,” I point to Darius’s makeshift throne. A large, wooden rocking chair nailed to the stage that doesn’t actually rock. The three hooded guards drag Pike to the side of the stage to make room for us, and it takes a lot of willpower not to watch him as they go. I take my place beside Percy who gives me a curt nod.
“It’s fucking go time,” he whispers.
I take the folded paper from my back pocket. The one Nine found for us based on the information Carmen had given me. I clear my throat. “Tonight, we celebrate Darius’s fiftieth birthday.” The crowd claps, and Darius waves back like the fucking prom queen he is. “Darius has been our leader for a long time. He started the Fourth Reich thirty years ago along with my father. Recently, I found out that my father was a traitor to The Reich.”
The audience gasps and whispers.
Darius furrows his brows, probably wondering where the hell I’m going with this.
Luckily, he won’t have to wait long.
I continue. “And Darius was right. There are those among us who are false in their beliefs in the Reich and its message. Those who wish to bring it, bring us, down.”
The whispers grow louder. Darius’s eyes widen in anticipation of someone’s head on a spike. Percy shushes the crowd, then nods to me to keep going. “I have, here, a birth certificate for someone in the Reich. Someone who isn’t who they claim to be.” I turn and look at Darius. The excitement in his eyes fades to fear.
I jerk my chin to Percy who takes out his phone. I breathe a silent sigh of relief that he’s moving forward with the plan after all, even though I still have no idea why Pike is here or if he’s okay. I shake my head of the thought and press on.
The backdrop of the stage lights up as the projector mounted above the clock of the warehouse shines upon it. “You’ll see that this image is of a young Jewish boy at his bar mitzvah.” The crowd boos. Percy clicks to the next slide. “This is an image of that same boy as a young man at his first school dance. His date is Alexa Brown, a young black woman. A woman who later married, then divorced that young man.” The slide clicks again, and it’s an image of the birth certificate I’m holding. “This is the birth certificate of that same young man. David Abramson.” Percy clicks it again, and I see Darius go stiff in the corner of my eye. If I wasn’t so terrified, I’d probably laugh. “You’ll see here a name change form filed in the county clerk’s office over thirty years ago when David Abramson officially changed his name.” I turn and look Darius directly in his terrified, angry eyes. “To Darius Alban.”
The crowd erupts. Darius leaps to his feet. “No, this isn’t true. She’s lying! She’s the traitor!” Darius pulls a gun and descends on me. Before I know it, I’m on the ground, the barrel of his gun pressed against the nape of my neck.
The wind is knocked from my lungs, and I can’t