Fury Rising by Jeyn Roberts Page A

shouted something that was lost over the murmuring of the crowd. Raj shook his head, his eyes wild and panicky. He stepped back, almost tripping over his feet and for a moment, Mason thought Raj might pass out right there on the stage. If this was part of some plan Aries had hatched, she should have picked someone stronger.
    But the Bagger was only interested in getting Raj to move over to the side where they lined everyone up. It didn’t take very long. Either the Baggers weren’t doing their jobs very well or it was getting harder to find survivors. Good thing the Baggers weren’t working on a quota.
    Less than twenty people. Mostly men and a few women. No children. All in decent shape and middle aged. That could work both ways.
    The Baggers would weed through the new recruits, pull out the ones of good health and age, and send them off into the camp to be assimilated. The ones deemed useless would be executed. The valuable ones would be taken into the casino where they’d be kept under lock and key. The whole thing was a performance and attendance was mandatory.
    It kept everyone in line, both on the stage and off.
    Mason had stood through a lot of these events. Someone always died.
    How had Raj been captured? The more Mason thought about it, the more convinced he became that it wasn’t some sort of plan. There’s no way Aries would risk one of their own like that. It had to be by accident. Raj obviously hadn’t been with any of the others or they’d be up there too. Clementine, Aries, and Michael caused too much trouble. Leon would have been overjoyed to parade them around the prisoners before executing them. Unless they’d been taken inside the casino to be tortured first, but then why just put Raj alone on the stage? Mason glanced over at the dark building off to the side. No, he’d been watching the whole morning ever since Karen mentioned seeing Colin. He would have noticed if anyone had been brought through the doors. No one had come in or out. Mason had made sure of that.
    What about Colin. Did he rat out Raj? No, that made no sense either.
    “I don’t think they know who your friend is,” Chaplin said quietly. He’d come back up to join Mason.
    Mason nodded. He watched as the closest Bagger walked past Raj, eyeing him carefully to search for signs of weakness. Raj didn’t move. He didn’t look down at the audience or give away the slightest hint that he knew Mason was there. Raj stared straight ahead and didn’t even flinch when the Bagger yanked the older woman beside him and pulled her to the front of the group.
    Mason didn’t watch as the Baggers drew their weapons. He stared at the ground until the guns fired.
    Two people chosen to die.
    The rest were free to join the camp. Yeah, free. The Baggers pushed the remaining survivors off the stage and let the audience swallow them up. Some of Chaplin’s friends went over to talk to them. They would introduce themselves and do their best to help. From the corner of his eye, Mason watched as an older woman handed Raj a blanket and pointed him over towards the direction of the tents.
    Chaplin touched Mason’s arm and nodded solemnly. Mason understood. As much as he wanted to rush over to Raj, that was the last thing he should do. It would only make the Baggers suspicious. Besides, Raj knew Mason was there. And Raj was smart. He’d wait until all the commotion died down before saying anything.
    “I hate that. I hate that so much.” Karen came up and joined Mason and Chaplin as they headed back towards the food tent.
    “It’s never fun,” Chaplin said. “Come on, we all need to help. These people will be hungry.”
    “Just what we need,” Karen said. “More mouths to feed. We don’t even have enough for ourselves.”
    “Remember,” Chaplin said as he turned to head off towards a group of newcomers. “Greed is what got us this problem in the first place.”
    Karen watched him leave, her lips pressed tightly together in a pout. “You know,