Unstoppable: Truth is Unstoppable (Truth and Love Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

bullet-proof now.
    Instantly, I realize how my words might have sounded to him, how they could’ve been interpreted. I want to apologize, and I can tell he wants to say something too, but before either of us can speak, the doorbell rings.
    I take a breath. It’s like I just boxed three rounds and that was the time out. I head back to my proverbial corner, check my wounds, and try to shake them off.  The conversation just got so out of control, and I feel guilty and off-balance. I mean, the guy’s dad just died, I shouldn’t be thinking about punching him in the face or accidentally implying he’s a psychopath.
    Then again, he did piss me off with his talk about Victoria. And when it comes to Victoria, it’s really very simple: she is my first and main priority, William’s feelings be damned. She’s my soul mate, and you really can’t trump that.
    He stands smoothly and heads downstairs. I follow him down the hall, thinking I’d wait for him at the top of the steps because I sure as hell don’t want to just sit here twiddling my thumbs. But when he opens the front door and I see who’s standing at the threshold, I hurry downstairs. I can’t help it. Call it gut feeling, call it instinct. Either way, I know I need to be a part of this conversation.
    The man on the other side of the door is Captain Pearce, his face grim and set. Two soldiers stand behind him.
    “William,” he says, “I apologize for bothering you at such an early hour. But I need to speak with Victoria.”
    “She's still asleep,” I say.
    He looks at me. “I suggest you wake her.”
    William asks, “What's this about?”
    A pause. “I really think you should wake Victoria first.”
    But then her voice comes floating down the steps. She says my name and I turn to her. I'm shocked at how terrible she looks in the glow of morning. Her hair is wet yarn, her eyes are lava pits, and her skin is paste. I rush up to her and we descend the steps together. Captain Pearce is standing beside William now. The two soldiers are still by the door.
    Finally, Captain Pearce looks directly at Victoria. He speaks. But the words don’t make any sense. They can't make any sense. Because if they make sense…

 
     
    VICTORIA
     
    Victoria, you're under arrest
    for the murder of your father.

 
     
    DEREK
     
    The US Steel Tower was purchased by the Corps two years before they officially came into power. It's the fourth largest building in Pennsylvania, and the first twenty floors of the building were turned into courtrooms. The next thirty-two floors were turned into administrative offices, cafeterias, interrogation rooms, and weapons storage. The top twelve floors were renovated to house the jail cells that, if rumors are to be believed, aren’t high enough or wide enough for a person to stand straight up or lay flat out in.
    And then there’s the back courtyard.
    Surrounded by centuries-old evergreens, a lush landscape of red rose bushes, and stone fountains, it's the place where prisoners come to die. In the beginning, when the Corps first came, it wasn't uncommon to hear the monstrous burst of gun fire every noon and 6PM. Forget church bells tolling, forget the rise and fall of the sun. You could set your watch by the gun shots. No more death by lethal injection. The Corps needed a bigger, more violent example. As years passed, the firing squad only sounded at noon every other day, then once a week. I guess the example worked. People say that the rose bushes, which can be seen from Sixth Avenue, always look so beautiful because they use the prisoners’ remains as fertilizer.
    In other words, the Steel Tower was judge, jury, and executioner all in one.
    I walk through the front doors and before I even make it ten feet in, two guards stop me. I am patted down, told to take my shoes off, then shoved into a huge glass tube. It seals shut just as a laser grid falls over me like a giant net. A monitor across from me lights up with text:
    Height: 6’
    Weight: