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I tossed the phone on the table and thought for just a moment about calling Cash. With his help, I could wiggle my way out from under this guy’s thumb. But calling him was dangerous. Not to mention, I didn’t have the time to get anyone else out here in the time allowed.
I ran my hand across the scruff of my jaw and stared at the map again. Everyone was going north because of where the dam broke, but as I studied the map further, it looked like another river ran just south of town. If the river had been dammed off a long time ago, it was possible that those two rivers were once connected and ran along the west side of town. But when the dam broke, it cut a new river through the land.
Going west was the only option. I folded up my map and stuffed it in my pocket. Grabbing my bag, I opened it and pulled my borrowed Sig from the bag and quickly took it apart, cleaning every inch of it. I stole this gun off a man in Spain, and he clearly was not a gun fanatic based on the cleanliness of his gun. I loaded the weapon and stuffed it in the back of my jeans.
I cracked my knuckles and then my neck. “Time to get me some gold.”
25
JOHNNY
“That’s your tagline?”the asshole that was strung up said. “Time to get me some gold?”
He snorted in laughter and I had to agree with him. It was a terrible line. But this wasn’t about our mutual dislike of FNG’s taglines. This was about why the fuck this guy sent men after Jack. I’d hunted this fucker down after finding out he took the call from the asshole I drove off the road.
I walked forward and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him flying backward into the wall. His body swung from just his wrists and the metal links bit into his hands. The man had already withstood an hour of torture with no signs of giving in. But I was just getting warmed up.
“What would you have said?” FNG asked. He was lounging in a chair by my workbench with his feet kicked up as he ate a bag of Funyuns.
The man clenched his teeth, biting back the pain. “How about, ‘I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.’”
“Dude, I can’t do that. I would be stealing a line from a movie,” FNG scoffed. “No fucking respect.”
“Better than your line,” the man spat.
FNG stared at him, then his eyes flicked to mine. “Can I kill him now?”
“No.” I picked up the blowtorch and turned to face the man. As I slowly rolled the knob, the blue flame lit at the end. I didn’t particularly like the smell of burning flesh, but I needed answers. The man’s eyes were glued to the torch as I got closer. The panicked breaths he dragged in through his busted nose got harsher by the second. But still, he said nothing.
“I’ll ask you one more time. Why did you send those men to the house?”
His nostrils flared as he prepared for the worst of it. I was done fucking around. I held the flame against his skin and watched as it turned bright red, then started peeling as the man screamed and tried to jerk away from me. I grabbed his arm and held him close to me, making sure he felt every second of agony.
“Tell me what I want to know!”
I started trailing the flame across his belly, drawing an X that would stay with him the rest of his short life. His screams echoed off the walls, but that didn’t matter. No one would find us out here in the middle of the night. I finally turned it off and stepped back, admiring my handiwork.
He was sweating profusely, tears streaming down his face as he closed his eyes in relief. He wasn’t going to give. I walked back over to the table and snatched his phone off the table. I didn’t want to threaten anyone in his life. I’d been there. It was fucking hell. I would rather be tortured than know that my family was out there and I couldn’t help them. But the time had come when I had no other choice. If I was going to end this, I needed answers now.
“Can you pick up milk on the way home,” I read off the most recent text.
The man’s face paled as I walked closer to him. His eyes flicked to his phone and then he started to shake. “Please,” he whispered.
“What’s that?” I asked, leaning in closer.
He was fucking terrified. I could see his heart pounding wildly and his throat worked hard to swallow. I had him right where I wanted him.
I grabbed him by the wrists and pulled him down, straining the ligaments in his shoulders. “I really don’t want to have to go after your family,” I said in a low voice. “Women are innocent, but I will do whatever I have to in order to keep my own safe. So…why did you send men to that house?”
“You promise you won’t hurt them? Any of them?”
I gave a tight nod. That was the only reassurance he was going to get.
“It was a test,” he said, his voice shaking. “Gelbero got him out of prison. He needed to know that Jack could be trusted.”
“By trying to kill him?”
“By making sure he wasn’t too high to take care of things himself,” the man choked out. “Whatever your guy did to impress Gelbero, there’s no walking away once he’s in. And since he’s not dead, I’m assuming he passed the test.”
