Arkady said. “You passed the test in the other room. Now you must pledge your life to us and acknowledge our commandments. Take a seat at the table.” Darwin wondered if he would be sick again. He’d never been in such a hard place. The men around him looked permanently angry. A team of psychiatrists could spend years studying their childhoods and discover that it wasn’t bad parenting that created men like this. It was raw anger. Their parents were angry and their parents before them. He stepped forward and stopped. He couldn’t do it with the dagger on the table. Whatever plan they had for the blade had to be substituted. “The knife has to go.” The room erupted in a soft murmur as the men whispered to each other. “What did you say?” Arkady asked. Dolph stepped away from the door, moving closer to Darwin. At that moment he didn’t care. All he could feel was the power the knife had over his ability to remain calm. “The knife … get it out of the room. Then we … carry on.” “We can’t do that.
