“Hours, Jason, a few days at the end of this life. Is it so hard to imagine that I’d wish to spend that time with a man I admire? There’s no need to respond, of course. I see how angry I’ve made you—it is a selfish desire, but you should be flattered. I say flattered because what I see in you, I see in me. I’m a sociopath, of course, and you are not; but as the world forgets, you will remember.”

“And that’s what you want?”

“As epitaphs go, it’s better than most.”

“An epitaph.” Jason could not conceal the anger.

X didn’t care. “An epitaph. A marker.” He shrugged languidly. “When the time comes, I want you there, an admirable man to bear witness. I’ve asked Warden Wilson to make the arrangements.”

“You did all of this so I could bear witness?”

“I won’t leave this world surrounded by sheep, alone. The last thing I wish to see is your face. As I said, you should be flattered.”

X smiled as if the matter were settled, but that’s not what Jason felt. Rage. Loss. He was a blind man. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”

“Perhaps you should have.”

“I should kill you right now.”

“As always, in this place…” X showed his palms, no smile left. “You are very welcome to try.”

Twenty minutes later, guards dropped Jason onto a table under bright lights, leaving the room as a weary doctor snapped on latex gloves, and cut away Jason’s clothing.

“Can you roll for me?” Jason shifted so the clothing could be removed and discarded. “Now back.”

Jason could recall no conscious decision to try, but staring past the doctor’s shoulder, he remembered X at the end, the last man standing but almost as bloody and almost as broken.

You must understand, Jason. It’s not the dying that bothers me but the idea of doing it front of these people. I know you find me horrible, but tell me you see that …

He’d collapsed into a chair, almost begging.

Tell me you understand …

The troubling thing was that Jason did understand. In three years of war, he’d been shot, stabbed, and burned, and come back to fight so many times that even hardened marines thought him charmed or blessed. And maybe that was true. All Jason knew for sure was that strength mattered, and that he respected it.

Of course, X was insane …

Jason ground his teeth as the doctor worked his narrow fingers, probing and pushing.