Page 28 of Defiance
“Is it for my benefit?”
“No idea. Apart from yours, I’ve never witnessed an interrogation. Just heard about them.”
Cole had heard about them too, and whatever was happening on the screen bore no resemblance to the rumours that circulated about the McKillan pack. It had to be for show, right?
Paul crouched down so he was eye-level with Nick. “What happened to your face? That didn’t happen in here, did it?”
Logan scoffed but didn’t comment.
“No.” Nick licked at the cut on his lip, wincing. “I got in a bit of a fight on my way here.”
“Oh?” Paul stood and glanced at something over to the side. “Anything we can help with? Your eye looks pretty nasty.”
“Nah, it’s fine. But thanks.”
Cole tsked under his breath. “This is not what I was expecting when you first put it on.”
“No,” Logan agreed. “Me neither.”
The rest of the video turned out to be pretty boring and uneventful. Paul asked Nick a series of questions about Cole. His home life, school life, if Nick had any idea that Cole was going to try and escape London—“No fucking clue.”Did he know who Cole had been meeting with?“No, only Logan. But then he’d been pretty secretive the last week or so.”
Would he be upset about his parents?
At this question, Nick had faltered, tears filling his eyes, and his breath hitched.“He’s going to be devastated.”
Cole got a little choked up just watching.
At the end, Paul thanked Nick for his time, politely reminded him that Cole’s attempted escape wasn’t to be discussed with anyone other than the McKillan pack, and said they’d be in touch if they had any further questions.
And that was that.
Logan stopped it playing before the next video started. “Well, that was...different.”
“Yeah. I—” Aaron’s phone sounded with an incoming text, startling them all when it vibrated on the table. His eyebrows rose when he picked it up and checked the sender. “It’s from Paul.”
Cole couldn’t stop himself from eyeing the cameras in the room. Were they watching them right now? That wasn’t creepy at all. Cole had forgotten about them. Until now.
He rolled his shoulders to try and shake off the uneasy feeling. Probably something he was going to have to get used to. The urge to look over Aaron’s shoulder and read what the text said was almost too strong to ignore, so Cole closed his eyes for a moment, giving him some privacy.
Not that it mattered in the end, because he read it out loud anyway.
“Apparently the start of the video was meant to show that first impressions can be deceiving and assumptions dangerous. Always approach things with an open mind and try not to let emotions interfere.”
“Easier said than done,” Cole muttered, gaze drawn back to the laptop screen. “And surely that’s something I should learn in a class, not via a text to you?”
Aaron’s phone buzzed again.
Definitely watching then.
It made the hairs on the back of Cole’s neck stand on end.
“You’ll have plenty of training,” Aaron read aloud. “Both theory and hands-on. This is just to explain the videos and why he chose them.”
“Oh. Fair enough, I guess.” The thought of hands-on training made Cole both nervous and sick to his stomach.
What if it’s someone I know?
“Next one?” Logan asked, fingers hovering over the keyboard.
