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Chapter One
The way of the lord is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin for those who do evil… —Proverbs 10:29
Felix Simard watchedhis captor with an intensity fueled by hatred. The safety goggles gave the other man a cartoonish appearance, magnifying his protruding eyes and calling attention to his sloping brow and receding chin. His remaining strands of dark hair were carefully combed in a futile attempt to cover a blotchy bald spot. With his appearance and quick skittery movements, he resembled a cockroach. Felix regretted not killing him when he’d had the chance. Would have killed him, if they hadn’t been interrupted. Then he wouldn’t be here now, trussed up like a common street punk instead of the businessman hewas.
Flames of humiliation seared him. Still, he hadn’t built his empire on weakness. All he needed was one chance. And this time Felix would personally make sure Anis Tera didn’tsurvive.
Felix knew that wasn’t his captor’s real name, because he’d had his people investigate him when he’d first come to Felix’s attention over three years ago. Names hadn’t been important. The fact that Tera had assumed he could get away with blackmail was. The man had gambled, and he’d lostbadly.
Felix’s chair was bolted to the floor, his hands and feet bound. Duct tape kept him from spitting the gag from his mouth. And yet he refused to allow himself to consider that now the tables might have beenturned.
Tera turned off the machine he’d been bent over. Echoes of its shrill whine hung in the air for a few moments. He took off his heavy work gloves and ran a finger lightly across the edge of the utensil in his hand. Seemed satisfied. He didn’t remove the goggles as he approachedFelix.
“You remind me of my father, you know.” Tera dragged over a portable spotlight and fussed over it a moment as he positioned it. When he flicked it on, Felix flinched and tried to turn his head away, but the blocks nailed to the chair on either side of his head made movement impossible. “Like you, he thought brute force was power. Bullies always do.” A small smile played across his lips. “But you’re both wrong.Informationis power. That’s how I first learned of you three and a half years ago. It’s what brought you here this evening, as my guest.” He brought up his right hand, the item clutched in it glinting in the light’sbeam.
Felix stared at the weapon, a sliver of relief working through him when he saw the rounded edge. Not a knife at all, he realized with contempt. How had he managed to be brought down by such a patheticcreature?
Tera leaned his face close to his. “You’ll think this is about revenge for nearly killing me three years ago. It’s not. I’m just the sword God has wielded. You told me once that you like to watch. You’ll watch nomore.”
Comprehension slammed into Felix as the object neared his face. The first jolts of terror twisted through him. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly. Felt one of them being priedopen.
His screams were no less violent for beingsilent.