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“Do they have it?” I asked, waiting with bated breath.
“No, not that we can see. Perhaps the third has it. We’re tracking him down.”
“Why are you doing that?” I sighed with frustration, my temperature rising. “You said you captured two. Torture them until they give up the third.”
“We tried. The bastards are holding out too well.”
“They won’t once I get there.” I hung up, annoyed. “Why is it that nothing seems to go my way when I need it to?” I asked no one in particular, and Gio knew not to even reply once my mood soured.
CHAPTER FOUR
THORSTEN
The glitz gave way to decay, and there was nothing at all glamorous about the poor, dirty souls who lingered outside the massive metal tubes hanging overhead, which separated the upper district’s waste from the lower. The impoverished dwarves raised their buckets high to catch the upper-level’s leftover meals as they rained above. Half-eaten chicken primavera, spoiled chili and that recalled salad snack pack that needed discarding, along with some expired sandwich wraps, all flowed down the garbage tubes.
We ended up in some seedy warehouse near the lower docks on level five. It was the home of a black-market auction house that sold everything from old technology lost to the floods, to tech implants, slaves, along with everything in between.
A Suit or MIB waited for us out front and escorted us inside and out of the rain.
“This place stinks.” I covered my nose once we opened the doors to a private section of the warehouse. It was filthy, a room they used to store the fish caught at sea. The blood fromthe creatures soaked the floor along with water and leftover ice. There was also the stench of urine mingled with it all.
“Sir, it’s the thief we captured; he soiled himself.”
“You shouldn’t go any further,” Gio warned. “You could catch some dwarven disease.”
The Suit scrunched his nose at the statement, most likely offended at the very idea that he and his kind were so filthy they could make us ill.
“I’ll be fine.” I approached the blond-haired dwarf the Suits kept strung up and suspended in the air on chains, his wrist and ankles were bloody and bruised from the shackles. Good, I didn’t want to bend over to talk to this dwarf. Blood dripped and rolled down his arm until it reached the dried bloodstains on the ground near the drain. “I don’t understand.” I finally addressed the injured man. “You were the one who contacted me to sell me the item, so why did you renege on our deal? Did another of our kind make a better offer?” The dwarf kept his head low and unresponsive. “Look at how you avoid my gaze. I’m sure you were a big man when you believed you were cheating me out of my credits.”
He kept his lips shut and continued to keep his eyes on the dirty ground.
“Did he have it on him during the meeting?” I focus on the shaved head male in the crisp black three-piece suit.
“Yes, he did. However, he panicked when we asked to inspect it.”
“Then it was a fake?”
“We didn’t have time to verify. He was asking for more money than you originally agreed to.”
“You really are stupid or ballsy or both.” Piss stained the dwarf’s jeans. The stinging stench offended my nose. “You leave me in quite the situation here. If the item is fake, then you tried to scam me. If it’s real, it means you could dive into theabyss, a feat in itself…. or you’re that shrewd of a person you stole the device from the dive team who acquired it? I don’t like unanswered questions.”
The petite dwarven male hung near the blond, his short brown hair wet and clinging to his skin. His teeth chattered. “How old is this one, Gio? He doesn’t look half bad. I’m sure someone would buy him, if not one of our kind as a thrall, then perhaps a wealthy dwarf.” I hoped the blond understood what I meant by this threat. The rich dwarves who resided in the city's upper district would buy this male, dress him up in leather, and have their way with him. Perhaps a fate far worse than being dressed up and pranced about by our kind. And selling him would be enough to consider my time well spent, but it wasn’t money I needed, and selling this bitch would do nothing to console me. But if the blond thought a terrible fate awaited this smaller, more delicate looking male, and it led to getting what I wanted, then it was worth it.
The blond pushed air through his teeth, making a disgusted noise.
“Or perhaps I should?” I walked over to the smaller male and gestured for the Suits to loosen the chains holding him up. He fell to the floor, trembling with fear. Face bloodied and left eye swelling and bruised. Snatching him up, I kept my eyes on the blond the entire time, making sure the strung-up dwarf knew my intent for his smaller companion.
“Please.” The small male cried as I ran my large hand along his body, squeezing his little ass.
“You piece of fucking shit!” The blond grimaced. “I’m sorry, Jo!” He tried to look away. Gio grabbed his face, forcing him to watch.
I ran my lips along the nape of his neck, my hands gripping his tender place. His breath hitched despite himself.
“It won’t work!” The blond struggled to pull his face away from Gio’s grip. “If you hurt him, I swear—”
Before the dwarf could finish his threat, I whipped out my pocket knife, a small thing I use just for their kind, and stabbed the smaller male in his slim thigh. Now it was time to bargain.
“ARGH!” The slimmer one screamed and tumbled to the cold, wet floor. I closed my eyes. This was… exquisite. There was nothing like watching the look of total defiance soften into the myriad of expressions until fear took over.
