That dream, a brief picture of his own hellish demise, had started the baron wondering about the outlander and whether it was wise to keep him on the farm, even if it was only long enough to ship him out and sell him at auction.
Each day would give him time to talk to the others and put thoughts of rebellion, escape and freedom into their little minds.
The baron shook his head. There was no doubt in his mind. He couldn’t allow that to happen.
The one-eyed outlander had to be chilled.
The sooner the better.
“Number One!” the baron called out.
The door to the baron’s chamber opened immediately, and Norman Bauer stood there in the doorway with the ledger in his hand, as if he’d been waiting on the other side to be summoned.
“The one-eyed outlander,” the baron said.
“The champion of the circle?”
“Yeah, that’s the one. I want him chilled.”
“When?”
The baron considered it. “Immediately. Make an example of him.”
Bauer seemed to hesitate, as if he didn’t understand the nature of the baron’s wishes.
“Problem?” the baron asked, noticing Bauer’s unease.
“It’s not my place to ask, Baron,” Bauer said with a slight bow of his head. “But why?”
“You’re right, it’s not your place to ask,” the baron said sternly. But then he shrugged. “I just have a bad feeling about him. That’s all.”
Bauer nodded. “I’ll see that he’s chilled.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Ryan tried to join the ranks of the slaves unnoticed, but his very presence attracted attention. The slaves either wanted to congratulate him on his victory over Mog, thank him for chilling the two sec men or else wanted to know if he was available for rutting that night.
Even the sec men seemed to be pointing at him and whispering among themselves.
Ryan didn’t like the looks of that. Usually the sec men were uninterested in the daily comings and goings of the slaves, but now every eye seemed to be on him, watching his every move. The attention could be explained away by his victory in the circle, but they seemed to turn away every time he looked in a sec man’s direction.
Strange behavior, even for sec men.
He could only hope that they had a sort of grudging respect for him, and not thoughts of revenge.
Ryan moved along the line, getting his breakfast. He’d had better morning meals, but he’d also had worse. This morning’s offering included a mound of tan mush that smelled like oatmeal, a bowl of fruit salad, slices of toast and a choice of juice-flavored water or coffee sub. Ryan took his tray and tried to find a spot in the corner where there wouldn’t be so many eyes upon him.
But he couldn’t hide from the crowd of slaves.
“Great job yesterday, Ryan,” said a young man from his crew. “We all won a lot of jack because of you, and we just wanted you to know how grateful we all are.”
“No problem,” Ryan said, wishing the man would go away.
“And in appreciation, we want you to have Simka here as your own personal slave for as long as you like. She can get you food, bathe you, and she’s a good rutter with both men and women.”
“Thanks, but no thanks.”
The girl, Simka, looked disappointed.
“You’re too good to be a slave,” he told her. “My slave or anybody else’s slave, including the baron. You deserve to be free.”
She smiled at that.
“Make some other man happy,” Ryan said, gently pushing her and the man escorting her away. He began eating his food, trying to look very much as if he didn’t want to be bothered.
But after just three spoons of oatmeal, another slave slid into the seat next to him.
“You’re the one-eye, right?”
Ryan said nothing, but turned so the blond-haired teenager next to him could see his patch.
“Okay, I guess you are, then.”
Ryan took another spoon of oatmeal.
“Just want to tell you to be careful today.”
It sounded like a genuine warning.
Ryan continued eating. “Why?” he asked, staring straight ahead.
“I work in the sec men’s lounge serving meals. They were all quiet this morning, like something was going down. I wanted to know what it was, so when I finished my shift I hid in one of the empty lockers.” The youth paused to take a quick glance around. “I heard one of the sec men say the baron wants you chilled.”